Ghee Coconut Rice

As we experienced a long-overdue dose of winter-like weather with blowing snow, ice, rain, pellets, heavy snowfall, whiteouts - you name it - we've had a bit of everything. The wintery weather calls for some variety rice instead of a bland version to put some flavour and spice into the dull and dark days of freezing rain with light snow.

Ghee Rice is famous in south India mostly in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka states and northern parts of AP. A typical ghee rice is made with jeeraga samba rice(jeera rice) which has a unique flavour by itself which gets enhanced by addition of ghee and other ingredients..

In Tamil Nadu, they mix both ghee and coconut and make an extremely flavourful rice called Coconut Rice which is truly magical..Mostly basmati rice is used here. Very simple to make, yet packed with richness this Coconut Ghee rice is a great combo with any Vegetarian or Non Vegetarian curried gravies.

Hot Ghee is tempered with cashew nuts, curry leaves, thinly sliced green chillies, onions and grated coconut. To this cooked basmati rice is added and seasoned with salt. Perfect to enjoy with a creamy veggie, chicken or mutton gravy.

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked Basmati rice(add a little salt while cooking the rice)
3 Tbsp Ghee
1/2 cup crated coconut
1/4 Cashews and raisins
2 sprigs Curry leaves
1 large onions thinly sliced
3-4 green chillies slit into four and seeds removed
Salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves if desired.

Method:
Cook basmati rice with just little salt and keep aside
Heat ghee in a wok/kadai/deep pan, add cashew and raisins and allow raisins to pop up and cashew turn little brown.
Remove cashew and raisins from ghee and transfer into a small bowl.
Allow curry leaves to sizzle in the same hot ghee and then add green chillies, onions and fry till onions are mild brown.
Add grated coconut and fry till coconut slightly turns color and changes smell.
Now add cooked basamati rice, salt, cashew and raisins and mix till all the rice is well coated with ghee, tempering and coconut.
Check to see for enough salt
Add coriander leaves if using and remove from heat.
Serve warm with Curried gravies.

Sending this rice to EFM-Variety Rice Series event hosted by Sriskitchen.

Chicken Karahi

This is one famous chicken preparation in most of the Indian and Pakistani restaurants and take-outs here in Toronto. Never got a chance to taste it in India though. With its exotic fragrance of fresh ginger,whole black pepper and bountiful of tomatoes this is one dish all curry lovers must taste.

"Karahi" is a gravy with the main base as tomatoes mixed with onions to which either chicken or mutton/lamb/veal can be added. Vegies can try this panneer(cottage cheese)/tofu/gobi(cauliflower).

Unlike adding the raw tomatoes to the cooking meat/poultry, in "Karahi" , we cook the onions and tomatoes seperately into gravy and then add to almost cooked chicken. Again the julienned ginger and the fresh whole black pepper give it a distinct flavour that you can't resist but try with freshly baked tandoori naan - a perfect combo for this.

The love for the taste of karahi preparation made me to adventure to try it at home..cause many of the restraurant versions are too oily.

I'm sending this as one of my entries for the event
Potluck - "Chicken" created and hosted by Vikki's Kitchen

Ingredients :
2 lb Chicken (skinless, bone in, trimmed of all fat)
2 lb Whole Tomatoes chopped
2 large Onions chopped
2 tsp whole black pepper balls
2 tsp whole Spices (fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom) - optional
2 x 2 Tbsp Olive/Canola Oil
2 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
2 tsp Vinegar - optional

Spice powders:
1 Tbsp red chilly powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
Optional
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp karahi masala (if available)

Salt to taste

Garnish:
2 Tbsp Ginger julienne
Coriander leaves finely chopped

Directions:
Marinate the chicken with a little each of ginger garlic paste, chilly powder, garam masala, turmeric & vinegar for 2-3 hours or overnight.
In a hot pot add 2 tbsp of oil, then add chopped onions and fry them till onions are translucent.
Add cut tomatoes to this and cook till the tomatoes are cooked thoroughly into a smooth paste.
To this again add little each of chilly powder, garam masala, cumin power and coriander powder.
Mean while on the other burner heat up a wok or wide kadai and add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil.
After the oil is hot, add the whole spices except black pepper and saute' till color changes.
Add the remaining ginger-garlic paste saute'
Now add the marinated chicken and saute', add a few black pepper balls and cook till the chicken is 3/4th cooked.
On the other side check if the tomatoes are done ...if the oil starts to leave the surface of the pot then the tomato onion masala gravy is ready.
Now pour this gravy onto the cooking chicken.
Add the karahi masala if desired and more of other spice powders if you want a spicy version.
Add the remaining whole black pepper balls and cook till the pepper leaves the aroma.
Add some julienned ginger and chopped coriander leaves and cook for a minute and remove from heat.
Serve and garnish with more julienned ginger and chopped coriander leaves.
Goes well with Tandoori naan or Lamb/Veal Biriyani.

Tandoori Chicken Fried Rice

Often times after I bake tandoori chicken I feel bad to put away so much cooked masala marinade which fell from the chicken pieces onto the foil.

There was this one day when I baked some tandoori chicken and had lots of this cooked masala marinade left on my foil tray. So quickly I remember the left over biriyani rice in the fridge, and put on my cooking hat to come up with something differetn and tasty. Not leaving our nutritious veggies,a new dish called Tandoori Chicken Fried rice was born.

This is a typical Indian spicy fried rice which can be made from the fresh or left over cooked tandoori masala marinade and tandoori chicken and either we can use the plain rice or if you have krushka or pulav, or left over biriyani. You can used frozen or fresh veggies. I always prefer cutting fresh veggies. So there you got a complete meal in one dish - Proteins, Carbs, Vitamins and fibre.....and .....not to mention the good taste.

Ingredients:
2 Thigh pieces of Tandoori chicken(Baked or Barbecued)
3-4 Tbsp of Cooked Tandoori Chicken masala Marinade
4 - 6 Cups Cooked Rice/Fresh or Left over biriyani
1 Egg
2 tsp cooking oil
1 rem of fresh Curry leaves
2-3 Thai Green Chillies slit into halves
1 big Onion cut length wise
2 - 3 Cups choice of chopped veggies (Carrots, Cabbage, Beans, Peas, Broccoli, Cauliflower)
1/2 tsp each of Chilly, Coriander, Cumin powders( if desired)
Salt to taste
Finely chopped fresh Coriander to garnish.

Procedure:
In a wide pan, heat oil, sizzle curry leaves, green chillies.
Add Onions and cook till Onions are little cooked and crispy
Now add the Chopped veggies, some salt and stir the veggies till crispy and cooked, for 5 -7 mins or so,
Now make space in the pan to beat an and make it into scramble, adding enough salt for the egg.
Once the scramble egg is fried mix it with the rest of veggies.
Now add the cooked Tandoori masala marinade, chicken pieces and the plain or biryani rice along with the CCC powders if using.
Add enough salt again and mix well.
Garnish with Coriander leaves and remove from heat.

This is also sent to Srivalli from Cooking for All Seasons for the food blog event Rice Mela

Thick Chicken Gravy - for Curry Mela

The month of August has been so special in my life. More over this year with all the saga of 888 of the Olympic games, the whole world is waiting for the arrival of this month. Wow that was a splendid and spectacular opening ceremony put forth by China in Beijing 2008. Not to mention this year and this month is special to me and my hubby, as we are celebrating our 10 years of wedding on Aug 12th.

Though not as glorious as the Beijing Olympic games, but my husband wants a decent celebration, which I'm postponing as ever. Nevertheless promised to cook him Biriyani for dinner and some chicken curry to go with chapathi, roti or dosa.

After a tired day of work, where is the patience to click the food before eating it. Some how I had these chicken curry pictures in my drafts.

So decided to post this for the Curry Mela food event hosted by Srivalli from Cooking for all Seasons

Ingredients:

Chicken - 2 lb
Onions - 2 Big
Green Chillies - 3 to 4
Ginger garlic paste - 3 Tbsp
Tomato Paste - 1 Cup

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander and Cumin powder - 1 tsp each - Optional
oil - 1 tbsp
Salt -to taste
Coriander leaves - a few finely chopped

Procedure:

Heat oil in a pot, add Green chillies and then onions and fry till onions are translucent.
Add the ginger garlic crushed or paste and saute for a minute taking care that it doesn't stick to the edges of the vessel.
Add the tomato paste and keep mixing for a minute or two till the raw smell of tomatoes is gone.
Add all the the powders except the garam masala powder and fry for a minute
Add the meat pieces and salt and mix well to give a nice coat of the masala for each piece.
Cover and cook for 3-5 min.
There will be some water coming out of the chicken.
According to that add more water depending upon the amount of gravy desired.
Cover and cook on simmer till the meat is fully cooked( say 15- 20min), mixing regularly so that the curry doesn't stick the edges of the pot.
Add the garam masala powder when the chicken is almost
cooked add the coriander leaves and leave for a minute.
Remove from heat and serve hot with Dosa or Chapathi.

As the Olympics fever continues with late night TVs to watch Micheal Phelps swimming to win those Golds on NBC and to cheer up Canada on CBC and to rejoice with the Indians for Anubhav's Victory in Beijing 2008 on NDTV, I'm sure our tummies may ask for a second serve.

Lentil Pepper Tamarind Soup / Dhal Milaguthani Soup

Paruppu Rasam / Miriyalu Pappu Charu



This can be made with freshly prepared dhal or left over dhal can be used too. In my case whenever i have some left over dhall, and have a craving of rasam i make this parupu rasam.

To make Dhall:
Pressure cook or boil 1 cup of dhal with a few pods of garlic and 2 green chillies(if desired)
Mash it to make it a smooth paste and add some salt.
Keep aside.

To Prepare Rasam:

To grind coarsely - rasam paste:
5 Peeled Garlic Pods
2 tsp Black pepper balls
2 tsp Cumin Seeds

For tempering:
1 Tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp Mustard
4 Red chillies
10 Curry leaves
1 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 tsp Coriander power
A pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
Lemon size ball of Tamarind soaked in 3 cups of water

Coriander leaves to garnish



In a deep pot head oil, add mustard.
After mustard splutters, add red chillies, curry leaves fry a little.
Now add the coarsely ground rasam paste, fry for 2 to 3 mins.
Add hing and coriander powder and fry.
Add tomato paste, fry a little.
Add the pre-cooked dhal, and mix well.
Now add the juice from the soaked tamarind in water.
Bring this to boil and then add the coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Goes well with Pepper Chicken. We had it this along with Gobi masala too.


This is my entry for this JFI - Tamarind hosted by my favorite food bloggie out there, Sig of Live to Eat. Orignally this event was started by Indira of Mahanandi.

Chettinad Chicken

There isn't any place in Tamil Nadu where you don't come across the chettinadu restaurant. And most of the restaurants in this state have the chettinad items on their menu.

One such delicacy is the Chettinad Chicken. A real variation of the normal chicken curry. It has all this combination of authentic spices both whole and ground and with lots of red chillies and curry leaves, this is one dish full of flavour in a very unique way.

During my stay in Chennai, I and my Tamilian husband use to enjoy this most of the times. At first I guessed the ingredients that would have gone into it and prepared it, it did come out very near. But with tons of recipes out their in the net, we can never go wrong.

Though it takes a little amount of time with the preparation of the special spice paste, the investment is worth it and the taste pays off.

Ingredients
Dry Spices:
1 tsp fennel seeds
2- 4 bay leaves
5 cardamom pods
2-4 cinnamon sticks, broken
4 cloves
12-15 curry leaves,
Others :
2 tbsp oil
2 Onions peeled and finely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped or 1/4 cup tomato puree.
2 lb chicken, skinned and cut into small pieces (preferably chicken breasts)

For the Spice Paste:
5-6 dried hot red chillies( increase to 8 or 10 if desire more spicy )
1 tbsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp white poppy seeds
5 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
2 inch piece of freshly chopped Ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
Salt to taste.

Method
In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of the oil and roast the cumin seeds, chillies, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns and poppy seeds and grind a into a fine powder.
To this add garlic, ginger, turmeric and salt along with some water and blend into a smooth paste.
Heat the remaining oil in a saucepan. when hot, add all the dry spices.
Stir fry and add the onions and fry till lightly coloured.
Now add the spice paste and keep stirring.
Add whole tomatoes or puree and fry till all the raw smell is gone. Now Add the chicken pieces and coat them well with the masala. Add enough water, and simmer till the chicken is tender.
Now on high heat reduce the gravy into thick consistency so that the gravy sticks to the chicken pieces.
Alternately, for small servings, heat up a tawa, add a bit of oil, curry leaves, broken red chillies fry a little and add the watery chicken gravy with a little chilly powder and keep stirring till all the gravy becomes thick and sticks to chicken,
Garnish with coriander leaves.

This can be served with any seasoned rice like Tomato Rice, Coconut Rice, Lemon Rice or Iddiyappam or parota.

This is my entry for the blog event Chicken my Favorite, created and hosted by Vandhana Rajesh of Cooking up Something Nice

Tomato Rice/Thakali Sadam/Tamata Annam

For South Indians rice is a must. Rice being one of the best crops in S.I. and the harvest of which is also celebrated as a festival(Pongal), there are no less varieties of Rice in South India. And with so many types of rice we got to have that many recipes to try it. You visit any vegetarian restaurant in Tamil Nadu in the lunch time they have a series of seasoned Rice varieties..Thakali Sadam(Tamato Rice), Thenga Sadam(Coconut Rice), Sambar Sadam(Lentil gravy Rice), Thayir Sadam(Yogurt Rice), Lemon Rice and the list goes on. 'Sadam' basically means cooked rice in Tamil.

I cook a few versions of Tomato Rice...Here is one of them. Probably the easiest of all.

Ingredients :
4 Cups Cooked Rice ( Preferably Ponni or Sona Masoori Raw rice)
1 Cup Tomato Puree

for Tempering:
2 tsp Sesame oil
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Channa dhall
5 Red chillies broken into pieces
10- 12 Curry leaves;
1 Medium Onion cut into thin stripes
1/2 tsp each of the CCC powder(Chilly, Cumin, Coriander)
Salt to taste
A few Coriander leaves finely chopped

Optional:
1/2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
A pinch of Hing/Asfoetide

Procedure:
Heat up oil in a Kadai(Wok), allow mustard to splutter.
Add Channa Dhall, fry a little to change the color.
Add red chillies and after they fry add curry leaves and onions and fry them till onion changes color.
If desired add ginger garlic paste and hing at this point and fry.
Now add tomato puree and cook well.
Add the CCC powders and cook for another min.
Now add the rice and salt and mix well for about 1-2min, so that every morsel is evenly coated with the seasoning.
Add coriander leaves and remove form heat.

Serve hot with potato chips, or any dry veggie curry or if are a non-veg with a thick chicken gravy.(Chettinad style- Recipe in the next post)

This is my contribution to the event Mixed Rice Varieties created and hosted by Simple Indian Food - An Easy Cooking Blog.

Spicy lentil Doughnuts in Seasoned Yogurt

AKA - Dahi Vada(Hindi)/Perugu Garelu(Telugu)/Thair Vadai(Tamil)

With the food blog event 'Frozen Yogurt' going on for this month which is hosted by Siri's Corner and with all the goodness of the Yogurt for us to enjoy, I can't but post this recipe.

This is popular for Breakfast/Tiffin or Snack in Tamil Nadu and Andhra. In my house whenever I'm able to make it, it becomes a meal. My two kiddos enjoy it. It's made in no time too.


You can make the vada from scratch or use the store bought ones. To make vada at home, soak required amount of Urad dhall(White Lentils) in water for about 1 to 2 hours, grind it into a smooth paste adding very less water..the batter should be very thick not loose. Add chopped onions, chillies, finely chopped ginger, a few curry leaves, black pepper balls and salt to taste to the ground lentil paste mix well and deep fry them in doughnut shapes. You can ignore adding all other ingredients except salt if you desire a lighter version. Usually in dahi vada is plain version.

Method for Thair Vadai or Perugu Garelu
This is say for about 6-8 vadas :
Just whip a cup of Yogurt, then add 1 cup water, to make the mixture like thick butter milk.
Add salt to taste.
Microwave vadai for 1 minute to make them soft.
Add to the above Yogurt mixture and soak well. Keep aside.
For seasoning, add a tea spoon of oil, after the oil is hot, add 1/4 spoon of mustard, 1/2 tea spoon urad dhall, 2 red chillies broken into pieces, 6-8 curry leaves, a pinch of Hing,
After browning add to Yogurt & vada mixture.
Garnish with Coriander leaves.
Wow!!!!!!!! It tastes good.

The recipe for Dahi vada has a deviation. As I mentioned the plain version of the vada are soaked in little sweetened Yogurt and the above seasonings are not used.
Instead the sweet tamarind sauce is spread on the Yogurt and Vada mixture and garnished with chat masala, cumin powder and a pinch of red chilly powder and coriander leaves.

I planned to write up on the good qualities of Yogurt but you can find that in this post at Siri's Corner.

Rice & Lentil Pudding...Chakarai Pongal - Think Spice

Last Monday being Victoria day we had a long weekend in Canada. Enjoyed watching the Fire works with kids from our balcony. And whats a holiday if it doesn't end with a sweet dish. I thought it would be right to post this pudding...for the Think Spice Food event. The spice for this month is "Cardamom"

This dessert which is mostly prepared for festivals in South India. "Chakarai Pongal" Chakarai in Tamil means Sugar. Pongal is the combo of cooked Rice and Moong Dhall.
Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Moong Dhall - 1-1/2 cup
Jaggery 400 to 500gms or Sugar - 1.5 to 2 cups (depending upon your sweet tolerance level)
Cardamon powder - 5 pods
Salt - a pinch
Coconut small pieces or shredded - 1/2 cup (optional)
Milk - 1 cup (optional)
ghee - 1/4 cup
Cashew and raisins fried in ghee - 1/4 cup

Procedure:
Wash & Pressure cook Rice and Dhall almost to paste consistency.
Make a jaggery or sugar syrup and add to the cooked rice and dhall mixture.
Add salt, cardamom powder, coconut, and milk.
Mix well and now add the ghee and stir well for the ghee to penetrate through the whole mixture.
Add the fried raisins and cashews and remove from heat.
Serve warm.

This is my entry for Think Spice - Cardamom originally created by Sunitha, and this month hosted by EasyCrafts.

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

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.

Aloo Tamatar - Ode to Potato AND Potato Feast

Like Sig, I must say its been raining Potatoes in our food blogosphere. Well, all due respects to this ever versatile root vegetable. It has feed billions of us in every part of the world. Its gr8 to celebrate 2008 as the International Year of Potato. And I can fill pages with the memories of this root. Honestly I'm a potato freak. You give it to me in any form(except the North American Mashed Potato, I don't like the flavour of the spices that go into it) I would happily eat it. I also observed that they don't go well with dhall curries, especailly with the texture part. In my home back home, we never added these in sambar etc, but I know many South Indian states make this combo.
So ode to Potato!!!! Yes, yes with all those carbs, starch and the weight that comes with it, I would love to work out to shred those extra pounds rather than give up on these pretty potatoes. OK now they are not so bad, they are a pretty good source of Potassium.
Read more on Potatoes here.

Growing up Potatoes were one, that I would eat without hesitating. The day they was on the menu I would be at peace. I Wish to post most of my potato recipes in my space in coming future.

For now, one easy and common dish that my grand mother use to make and I adapted is Potatoes cooked with Tomatoes or Aloo Tamatar(Hindi), Bangaladunpa tamata(Telugu), and Takali Urulaikizhlangu(Tamil).

This preparation goes well with Poori, Dosa, Chapathi/Roti, Veg Pu lav,Fried Rice or even with just toasted whole wheat bread slices.

Ingredients:
Potatoes - big - 5 - 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:
Remove Potato skin and cut into medium size cubes.
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 Potato 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 potato in steam for about 15- 20 minutes.
Keep mixing periodically and add more water if required.
Once the potato is almost cooked add the tomato puree, mix well.
Cook for another 10 minutes or till potatoes absorb the tomato flavour into them.
Add finely chopped coriander leaves just before removing from heat.

This goes to Ode to Potato, an event by Sra, and Potato Feast by hosted by DK of Culinary Bazaar

Cake B4U Bake - Click Flour

Celebrating 'Family day'(New Holiday declared in Ontario from 2008) on Feb 18th, I baked this cake. This is actually Raisin Walnut Coconut Cake. As the Click theme for this month is "Flour", clicked this picture after adding some color to the flour batter and before I could add the my garnish and bake it.

So this is my entry, for Bee and Jai's Click event.

Just wanted to share that I do not send my entries to this click event to win any badge. Cause I'm not clicking my pictures from a winner's preparation. May be that time will come soon. As of now if I have some thing ready I just participate, to support and to encourage others. Cause if we don't send our entries how will the winners become special.

Wait and Watch for this Raisin Walnut Coconut Cake Recipe......

Lemon Rice - JFI Lime

Sending 'L' for Lime, Lemon Rice for This Month's JFI - Lemon, hosted by Coffee, created by Indira of Mahanandi



Check for recipe Here

Slow Cook Chunky Meat and Veggie Stew

With our ever busy schedule, when it comes to cooking a meal, most of us are always on the look out for something quick and healthy without comprising on taste. Slow cook meal is a remedy here. As I was experimenting with different kinds of slow cook meals I came out with this one.

Since I've used Star Anise here as one of the main spices thought this can contribute to this month's Think Spice - Star Anise, which is a monthly food blog event created and hosted by Sunitha.

Since this makes a complete meal, with protein, veggies and carbs, so this qualifies for Meeta's Monthly Mingle for this month's Theme - One dish Dinner.

Ingredients:
Meat and veggies:
2 Lb - Choice of any Chunky Meat with Bones
1 lb - Carrots, beans, Peas, Lima beans, potatoes cut into big chunks
Spices
4 stars - Star Anise
3 Cloves
2 Cardamon
1 Cinnamon Stick
1/2 tsp Funnel seeds
3 Bay leaf
Seasoning:
1 Tbsp oil
1 big Onion chopped
2 big Green Chillies slit
1 Tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
1/4 tsp Red chilly powder
Salt to taste.
For Gravy:
1/2 cup Tomato Puree
1/4 cup Apple Sauce
1 Tbsp Worcester Sauce

Procedure:
Heat oil in a large pot add all the spices one by one saute till color changes and flavours comes out.
Add Onions and chillies, saute for 2 minutes.
Add ginger garlic paste, saute
Add the meat and the chilly powder and salt, mix well.
Add the all sauces, simmer for 1 hour on a regular oven or transfer into a slow cooker crock pot and cook for 2 hours before adding the veggies.
At this time remove any excess fat/oil from the meat, just before you add the veggies.
Slow cook for another 2 hours.
Check for the softness of the meat. If meat attains the stage where it can easily be separated from the bone, the stew is almost done.
The vegetables will be well cooked in this time.
Again remove any excess fat from the bones.
Serve into stew bowls and garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
If desired you can eat with cooked rice or a slice of fresh italian bread.