Masala Vada

Hi Everyone,

Long weekend is just few days from now. Planning for any get together? Thinking about snack item? Need a simple and easy snack/appetizer to impress guests and friends......?

Here you go crispy,spicy masal vada. These vadas are very famous in Andhra.






Ingredients:

1 cup of Chana Dal (Split Bengal Gram)
1 tbsp rice (Small amount of this rice helps to make the outer layer crispy).
1 onion chopped (don't chop too thin/small)
7-8 Green chilies (Adjust as per your spice)
1/2 inch Ginger
1tbsp cumin seeds
3 garlic flakes (chopped finely)
salt to taste
Dil greens (optional ) . You can substitute this with Coriander leaves.
3 Garlic flakes

Oil to deep fry


Preparation:


1. Soak dal/lentils and rice for 3-4 hours. Keep 1tbsp of soaked lentils aside. In a blender grind remaining soaked lentils,rice ,green chilies, cumin seeds,Ginger, and Salt into coarse paste(don't make it too smooth).


2. Mix chopped onions, chopped garlic, chopped greens(dil or coriander) , spice lovers can add chopped chilies and soaked lentils (which we kept aside) with coarse paste.

3. Take 1 tbsp of mixture make a small lemon sized ball and pat it with fingers. Deep fry these in oil on medium heat. Once they turn golden color remove it from the oil.

Picture of making the vadas:

4. These can be served as it is or with green chutney(coriander chutney) or peanut chutney. I like to eat just like that.

I received giant bear hug from JZ of Tasty Treats . Thanks a lot JZ.

I would like to further pass this award to

Sashree from Warm Welcome to all the Foodies
Sharmila from Kichu Khon
Amrutha from Chef n Me
Sunshinemom from Tongue Ticklers


Enjoy your giant bear hug girls...........................


I also got few more awards .
Yummy Blog Award from Maheswari of Taste of India. Thanks Maheswari.


Madhavi passed "Blogging with purpose award" to me. Thanks a lot Madhavi.


I love to pass these awards to

Sashree from Warm Welcome to all the Foodies
Sharmila from Kichu Khon
Amrutha from Chef n Me
Sunshinemom from Tongue Ticklers
JZ from Tasty Treats

Gongura Pickle

Today I am going to talk about my all time favorite pickle Gongura Pickle. Before I talk more about this pickle, I would like pass little bit information about the vegetable which is used in this pickle.

Information about Gongura:


Gongura is a leafy vegetable which is very rich in Iron, vitamins and anti-oxidants. Gongura comes in two varieties, green stemmed leaf and red stemmed. The red stemmed variety is sourer than the green stemmed variety. Gongura is also known as Andhra Maatha (Mother of Andhra Food). Guntur city in Andhra produces a good quality Gongura.

Gongura Pickle is quintessentially Andhra Cuisine.

You can visit wikipedia for more information.

Gongura is known as Sorrel leaves in English.
Pulicha Keerai in Tamil.
Gongura in Telugu.
Pandi in Kannada.
Gongura Ela in Malayalam
Pitwa in Hindi.

I never met any Andhra Person who doesn't like Gongura pickle. Being in US I cannot enjoy this vegetable through out the year unlike in India. Summer is the only time we get this vegetable in US. So I thoroughly enjoy the whole summer with this vegetable making Gongura Pappu/Dal, Gongura Pachhadi and the list goes on...

Yesterday night I was craving for this spicy pickle, so without even taking more time I started making the pickle/pachhadi.

This recipe is from my mom. She is great in making this pickle. I can never get the same taste as she does. There is some magic in her hands. :)

This is very simple to make and very delicious.


Ingredients:

1 bunch of Gongura. (Remove the leaves).
15 Red chilies (Adjust as per your taste. This pachhadi should be spicy so I used 15 red chilies. :) )
1/4 tsp of Fenugreek seeds
pinch of hing
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
salt to taste
2tbsp of oil

Gongura Leaves:

Preparation:

1. Remove the gongura leaves, clean them with water and dry them in sun. (If you want to store this pickle for more than a month then the leaves should dry in Sun for atleast 2days .)
2. Heat a pan add 1tbsp of oil. Add hing, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and redchilies. Once mustard seeds starts popping up remove it from pan and keep it aside.
3. In the same pan fry the dried gongura leaves for 5-6 mts.

Fried Spices :

Fried Gongura:

4. Once the mixture(chili,fenugreek,mustard seeds mixture) cools down make a powder using blender/mixer.

5. Now add the fried gongura leaves and salt and blend so that gongura leaves nicely blended with the spices.

For Garnish: Toss the garlic flakes and mustard seeds in 1 tbps of oil.

Garnish the pickle with tossed garlic flakes(optional) and mustard seeds.

The delicious Gongural Pickle is ready to be served with hot rice.
Eat this rice with ghee or oil and fresh onions . I really feel like I am in heaven when I eat this and you will feel the same too !

Note: For storing the pickle for longer time add more oil .


Closeup shot of Pickle:

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Me Me:

I have been taged by Sashree to answer these questions. Thanks Sashree.


1) LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATER?
Kungfu Panda

2) WHAT BOOK ARE U READING?
Break all the rules

3) FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Caroms

4) FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Don’t like magazines.

5) FAVORITE SMELLS?
I like lot of smells for example Jasmine, Lavendar, Sanna Jaji, Vira jaji. I am going to stop for now , or else the list can go pretty long.

6) FAVORITE SOUNDS?
Music, infants laugh

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
When my loved ones are sick.

8) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE?
What to make for my daughter’s lunch box.

9) FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
Subway, Cold Stone Creamery

10) FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?
I am fine with one.

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D’
I will make sure my daughter gets everything whatever she needs.

12)DO YOU DRIVE FAST?
I used to drive fast but not recently. But I love to drive fast.

13) DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
No.

14)STORMS–COOL OR SCARY?
Cool.

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Toyota Camry

16) FAVORITE DRINK?
Coffee. I cannot imagine my day without coffee.

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD…
Plan to do more hobbies like gardening, Stitching, making ear rings, chains and all…..

18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Yes in Thai Fried rice

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Burgundy.

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN?
Vizag, Hyderabad, Mumbai, USA

21) FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Tennis, Cricket.

22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
I know her through blogging. She has a very nice blog.

23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?
My cell phone for my morning alarm.

24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN??
If there is rebirth then yes.

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?
Both. I usually sleep very late.

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Easy

27) FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
My home and beach.

28) FAVORITE PIE?
I don’t like pie. I am a spice lover.

29) FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Vanilla, Butterscotch.

30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
Everyone is busy in the current world so whenever they get time they will respond.

Sashree tagged again for few more questions. Here are the answers.
Thanks once again Sashree.

What are five things on my to-do list for today (non-work related)?
Shopping
Dinner Plans (What to cook)
Take my daughter to her classes
Have some nice tea in the evening with Salsa chips.
Enjoy cartoon serials

What are five snacks I enjoy?

Mirchi Bajii
Pani Puri
Sev Puri
Onion Bajji,
Samosa Chat


What things would I do if I were a billionaire?

hmmm. I know this will never happen in my life time. So no plans.

It is my time to tag:

Sharmila from Kichu Khon
Amrutha from Chef n Me
JZ from Tasty Treats
Sunshinemom from Tongue Ticklers

Gobi Manchurian

This weekend I threw a surprise party for a newly married couple and invited a few friends for dinner. This group enjoys a hearty meal. For appetizers, I wanted something different, finger food yet satisfying. I decided to make the King of Appetizers - Gobi Manchurian. This appetizer is a famous fusion food recipe - Indian Chinese. Most Indians love this dish and thoroughly enjoy the influence of Chinese cuisine on Indian spices and veggies.


Here is the recipe for the same.

Ingredients:

1 Cauliflower
2 cups of all purpose flour
1tbsp Green chili paste
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cup Bell peppers finely chopped. (You can use all 3 colors of bell peppers which gives nice colors. )
1/2 cup chopped spring onions
1/4 cup French beans finely chopped (Optional)
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
2garlics finely chopped
3tbsp Soy sauce
3tbsp tomato chili sauce /Tomato Ketchup (I used Tomato chili Sauce since I love to eat spicy. If you are not a spicy lover use Tomato Ketchup)
Oil for deep frying

Chopped Vegetables:




Preparation:

1. Wash the cauliflower and cut into small florets and boil/cook for 5 mts with pinch of salt. Drain the water and keep it aside.
2. In a bowl add all purpose flour, ginger garlic paste, green chili paste, salt and water and make a batter of medium consistency. (It should be the way we do bajjis.). Check the taste of mixture and adjust the spice and salt as per your taste.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Once the oil is hot dip the florets in batter/mixture and deep fry them until they turn golden color. Note: Please do not fry on high flame/heat. Always fry on medium heat.


Fried Gobi Florets:


4. In a skillet/heavy bottomed vessel add 3 tbsp of oil and chopped garlic. Once the garlic turns golden color sauté spring onions, bell peppers, French beans for 5-6 mts. Add soy sauce and tomato chili sauce and cook for 3-4 mts. (Adjust the soy sauce and tomato ketchup based on your taste)

Saute of Vegetables:

5. Add the fried florets to the above mixture and mix well.

Garnish with fresh coriander and yummy Gobi Manchurian is ready to be served.




I am sending this recipe for AWED Event with theme - Chinese Cuisine hosted by DK.

Mango Kulfi

Summer means the first thing which comes to our mind is Mango. So I decided to make something with Mango. Since my daughter loves mango and ice cream, I ended up making Mango Kulfi. I still remember my childhood days where we used to eat kulfi in the hot summer from kulfi person.

Here you go the easiest way of making Kulfi:

Ingredients:

1 can carnation/condensed milk
1/2 can Mango Puree(if you are using fresh mangoes use 2 mangoes .)
2tbsp of pistachios chopped coarsely
1tsp of cardamom powder
2 Saffron strands (Optional. I didn't use it since my daughter doesn't like it)

Preparation:

Mix carnation milk , mango puree(if using fresh mangoes puree them), cardamom powder, saffron strands(optional) and chopped pistachios. Taste the mixture and adjust the sweetness by adding more milk or mango puree.
It should taste sweeter than you prefer since it will loose little bit sweetness after it is frozen. Pour mixture into kulfi moulds or small cups/containers and freeze it for 5-6 hrs. Before serving keep the moulds in room temperature for 5-6 mts and then unmould.






Delicious Mango Kulfi is ready. Kids will definitely love this. So try it out .



Closure Look:

Proud Member of Great Cooks Community

Hi Everyone,

I am a proud member of Great Cooks Community which is started by SimpleDailyRecipes.com. It is a wonderful place to get to know other fellow bloggers and learn new techniques from them. I recommend my friends and fellow bloggers to join this community.

-Sailaja

Kobbari Undalu / Coconut Jaggery Laddu

Coconut Jaggery Laddu is my contribution to "A Fruit A Month", an event which is started by Maheswari of "Beyond the Usual" blog. Suganya from "Tasty Palettes" is guest hosting this month for AFAM and her fruit of choice is "Coconut". Thanks for hosting Suganya, great choice!

Information: Coconut is very commonly used in most of the south indian recipes . I still remember my childhood drinking the coconut water from freshly cut coconuts from our Grand mother's house.

If I start listing the items which we make with coconut it will take weeks to finish this post. So for now I am going to talk about the Coconut Jaggery laddu which I made yesterday. This sweet is very easy to make with few ingredients.

So let's not waste time. Try this delcious sweet.

Ingredients:

1 cup of fresh grated Coconut,(Can be substitued with frozen grated coconut)
1 1/2 cup of grated Jaggery (Grate or cut the jaggery into small pieces) (You can always adjust the sweetness as per your taste)

Preparation:

Add coconut, jaggery in a heavy bottom vessel on medium heat. In few minutes jaggery will start melting, let coconut cook well in the jaggery syrup. Stir continuously. If the mixture is looking too dry add little bit water to get the pakam. Cook until the mixture comes close/thick. Do not cook for too long then the laddus becomes hard. Turn off the heat and keep it aside for few mts. When the mixture is still warm grease your palm with ghee/oil and start making small rolls with the mixture.

Note: You can garnish these rolls with cashew nuts.(Optional)

This makes very delicious dessert. My kid love to eat these rolls.

Storage: These will stay for a week in room temperature.

Cabbage Aava Petti Koora( Cabbage with mustard paste)

Cabbage is one of my daughter’s favorite vegetable. 2 days back I made Cabbage curry the way my mom and my grand mother makes it, using Mustard seeds paste (Aava).

Mustard paste gives nice flavor to cabbage. As far as I know most of the people doesn’t like to eat cabbage because of its odor. Don’t give up the vegetable because of its odor; try this recipe which gives nice flavor to cabbage.

Ingredients:

1tbsp mustard seeds
3 red chilies
Small piece of tamarind
Cabbage chopped
Salt to taste

Popu/Tadka/Seasoning:


1tbsp oil
1tsp of mustard seeds
1tsbp of urad dal
1 red chili
Curry leaves
Pinch of turmeric powder

Preparation:

Soak mustard seeds, tamarind and red chilies for 1/2 hr. After mustard seeds are soaked, make a paste and keep it aside. In a pan/vessel add 1 tbsp of oil once oil is hot, add popu items. Once the mustard seeds starts popping add chopped cabbage, salt and cover it with lid on medium heat. Once in a while mix the cabbage. Once cabbage is cooked add the mustard paste and cook it for 5 mts.
Turn off the heat and serve with hot rice or rotis.

(Note: Do not cook more than 5 mts once the mustard paste is added. If mustard paste cooked more time then curry tastes bitter.).

Masoor Dal Kichidi (Rice with lentils)

After a hectic week at work, didn't feel like cooking any special items over the weekend. Thought of making something which is simple, spicy and healthy food. The moment I thought about spicy and easy item the first thing which came to my mind was Kichidi.

Here you go spicy Kichidi. The recipe time is 15 mts.

Ingredients:

1 cup of Rice
11/2 cup of Masoor Dal (Red lentils)
1 small onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
3 green chilies
1/2tsp of cumin seeds
1tbsp of masala powder
1tbsp of cumin powder
1tbsp of coriander powder
2 whole cloves
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 red chilies
1/2tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 inch Cinnamon stick

Salt to taste
1tbsp of oil
curry leaves


Preparation:

Heat a pan , add oil, cumin seeds, cloves, red chilies, cinnamon, curry leaves. Once cumin seeds turns little golden color add ginger garlic paste, masala powder,coriander powder, cumin powder, green chilies, chopped onions, turmeric powder. Once the onions turn golden color add chopped tomatoes.



Once tomatoes and onions are cooked add dal/lentils, Rice and Salt. Toss them for 5mts and add water( 1cup of rice 2 cups of water, 1cup of dal/lentils 2 cups of water) and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.(You can always cook it in rice cooker).
Once the cooker is cooled garnish with fresh coriander.

The spicy, healthy, easy kichidi is ready to be served with raita.



Here is another award from dear Sashree. Thanks Sashree for thinking about me!

This beautiful inspirational award is started by dear Jamie of Flavour Pantry.

"This is given to bloggers whose stories and recipes inspire us. Whether it’s to eat healthier, dive back into our past to conjure up something we ate as children, or just make the light bulbs in our brains go on with a new idea for a recipe. "

Please let them know what the award means and what to do with it.

Feel free to post the Inspiration Award Logo on your site for the whole blogsphere to see. (logo photo taken by my inspiring friend and co-author of Dueling Foodies, Beth.)

As per the rules, I have to share some things that inspire me most:

1. I got the inspiration of cooking and be active from my mom. I still don't understand how my mom can cook for so many people in short time. She is a great cook.

2. When it comes to art all the credit goes to my dad. He is my role model. I am very much inspired by his art.

3. I get inspiration from people who are very active and do things quickly like my mom and dad.

4. When it comes blogging world, I should say thanks to my friend Raki who inspired me to start the food blog. Thanks Raki.

Just few months of my blogging, I made lot of friends. All of them inspire me with their inspirational comments. Thanks to everyone.

Now it is my time to pass this award to fellow bloggers.

Asha from Aroma
Madhavi from Vegetarian Medley

Priyanka from Asankhana
Sagari from Indian Cooking

Rocking award from Uma :

Uma from Telugu Ruchi passed this rocking award. Thanks for the award Uma. I am really flattered.



I will further pass this award to
Asha from Aroma
Madhavi from Vegetarian Medley
Priyanka from Asankhana
Sagari from Indian Cooking

Congrats to you all................. . Enjoy the awards...............................................

Celebrating awards with Watermelon Juice.

I was so thrilled to receive 2 awards from Sashree. Thanks a lot Sashree.
I celebrated these awards with a refreshing juice on a hot day.


Watermelon Juice:


Ingredients:

Watermelon (Cut in cubes)
Ice cubes,
1 tbsp sugar(Optional. I like to have my juice little sweet so I add little bit sugar)
1tsp of chat masala.



Preparation:

Very simple to prepare this juice. Blend all the ingredients in a juicer/mixer and it is ready to be served.

In a hot summer who will say no to watermelon juice. So try this simple and healthy juice.




My Awards from Sashree:



My fellow blogger and friend Sashree passed 2 awards to me. Thanks a lot Sashree. I am really flattered.

"Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

I pass this award to few more friends.

Sreelu from Sreelu's Tasty Travels
Priyanka from Asankhana
Swati from Chatkhor
Lintang Dewani from Cook Uncook

Here comes the funny one and my favorite. Everyone in my family still calls me as "Yakshni". Yakshni means who asks more(yaksha) questions . In school days my teacher and my friends use to call me as "Vasapitta".
[In Andhra , nick name for people who talk more is"Vasapitta". Vasa is a herb which fed to babies/kids. It is a belief that this herb makes kids talk. My mom says if dose of vasa is more then people talk more. :) Pitta means bird :D . ]
I never felt bad if any one calling me as vagudukaya/vasapitta. I always feel proud that I have the ability to talk nonstop.....

Thanks a lot Sashree for passing this award. I really enjoyed this award.

I pass "Good chat Blog Award" to the following fellow bloggers. I am not sure if they talk more or not. I hope they will enjoy this award .

Priyanka from Asankhana
Amrutha from Chefnme
Lintang Dewani from Cook Uncook

Now let's talk about something interesting. Sashree tagged me to write about 10 things I hate. First I thought it is easy to identify what I hate, but I was wrong. It is much more difficult than I thought. After a long thought process finally came up with these 1o items which I hate.

Thanks for the tag, Sashree! This is really a nice activity. But very difficult though.

1. I hate to watch scary/ghost movies .
2. I hate watching movies that are full of violence.
3. I hate any rides. I am scared too.
4. I hate cigarette smoking.
5. I hate if the kids talk like adults.
6. I hate selfish people.
7. I hate people who make fun of others.
8. I hate watching drama serials/shows. I hate over action of actors/actresses.
9. I hate cockroaches.
10. I hate scary stunt shows.

I further tag. [This is real fun activity to identify what we hate. If you have already done this activity ignore it.]

Priyanka from Asankhana

Amrutha from Chefnme
Sreelu from Sreelu's Tasty Travels
Lintang Dewani from Cook Uncook

Yellow for Briana - Click

In few months of my blogging I became friends with lot of fellow bloggers. When I saw this special fundraising event in Bee's site I was really touched by the fact and visited the Figs With Bri.

Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here.

She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills.

The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR.

CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri

Yellow is the colour of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer.

The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008.

The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise.

There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site.

Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account. This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE.

You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicising this campaign.

Here is the picture for entry to the Click Photo event hosted by Jai and Bee of Jugalbandi for the month of June - CLICK YELLOW for Bri

Sundal