Kuzhi paniyaram / Mor Appam or Gunta Ponganallu

Mor Appam or Gunta Ponganallu / Salted appam

I love this snack! simply love this salty snack.Soft, spongy and extremely tasty.It is called as "Mor appam" or "Gunta ponganalu". It is called mor appam because we use sour dosa batter to make this.And if the batter is not sour we add a bit of sour buttermilk (buttermilk is called as mor in tamil) to it.

Here goes the recipe:

Left over dosa batter : 1 big bowl

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece chopped

Green chillies - 2 small finely chopped

Jeera (optional) - 1/2 tsp

Fresh Coriander - 1 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tbsp (soaked in hot water for minimum 15 mins)

Buttermilk (optional) - 1/2 cup

salt to taste

Oil

Method:

For making this item you need a special pan called "Appa karal". If you dont have it you can even fry them in kadai by dropping balls of batter into the oil.

Mix all the required ingredients except the oil in a big bowl and keep it aside.Heat the appam pan.

I have used a non stick Appa karal and hence need to use very little oil. Just brush the pan with some oil and heat the pan well. Now drop a spoon ful of batter into the cups. When they seem to be half cooked.... turn them upside down. When the appam is golden from both the side, remove it from the pan.

Serve hot with coconut or pudina chutney.

Home made Healthy Burritos

Hello friends iam back..... Back with my favourite mexican food.

In the recent days I have somehow got a liking to mexican food maybe coz its simple... ...you know all the ingredients that go in making each dish , secondly they taste a lot like our indian food an above all its so easy to make........

I love anything mexican.... it has so much variety in vegetarian too..... any dish u choose, u can just ask them to remove the meat/chicken and u can still enjoy all thats there in a mexican menu......

Now this is one simple and easy recipe.... I got to learn this one from one of my elder cousins.She made this when we went to visit them for new year.Now, here i would like to share her burrito recipe with all of u. Thanks akka for the recipe.


For 5 burritos
Ingredients you need:

Large flour tortillas - 5
Vegetarian refried beans - 1 can ( If your r a vegetarian see that you take a can of refried beans which says "vegatarian" , you also get traditional refried beans, but those have meat broth.)
Tomatoes : 2 chopped in cubes
Onions (optional) - 1 chopped
Green bell pepper - 1 big chopped
Corn - 2 cups
Olives - 1 cup
Low fat Sour cream - about 1 cup
Gaucomole ( i didnt use it here, u may if u wish)
Mild Salsa - 1 cup (optional)
Olive oil


Method :

In a big pan take some olive oil. Add the chopped bell pepper to it and saute til a nice cooked smeel erupts from it. See that you dont over cook it. It should be crisp. Now add in the refried beans to it and keep stirring. Cook the beans for approximately 20 mins or till it cooks well.

While the beans are being cooked keep all the other vegetables chopped well and ready in cups.In a small pan toss in the corn and toast them till u see small spots on it. It will make them taste better.



Now, take one tortilla and toast it lightly on a pan.toast both the sides. Put it on a plate and place a spoon ful of refried beans mixture on it. Top it with the tomatoes, olives, corns, salsa,(u may cut the salsa too as u already have the tomatoes,onions sour cream and gaucomole. See that u put a moderate amount of everything.... you dont wanna load ur tortilla and struggle eating..

Now , this has a three step packing which is very important. once u have put all the filling on the tortilla, see which side do u want to be the top i.e the open side and start making a horizontal fold on the bottom then fold each sides on each other.... its like packing a box...
I will post a pic of this soon.


Your Burritos are ready....isnt it easy do try it and let me know...



This is another snap of the burrito sorry for the eaten bit.... my hubby cudnt wait.

Enjoy the Burrito:)

Jeere wale Aloo

This is a simple and easy to make side dish. I love aloo (potatoes) and this recipe is my favourite. Its dry, and aloo is roasted and it has the lovely flavour of jeera in it.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Potatoes (aloo) - 5 medium cubbed

Jeera (cumin seeds)-2tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Fresh coriander to garnish

Oil

Method:

In a pan take some oil and put in the jeera. Once the jeera splutters put in the chopped poatoes and the masalas. Roast it well till the potatoes get well coated with the masalas and the potaoes get cooked well.

Garnish it with some coriander and your simple and quick aloo jeera is ready.

Enjoy with rotis.

Gobi Matar - Peas and Cauliflower

So here I am.....got some time from my vacation here at my brother's place hence posting a recipe. It a simple and everyday dish.... i make it often as me and my hubby both love this cauliflower.....

I dedicate this recipe to Dr. saab....my hubby's friend. There is a deep relation between Dr. saab and cauliflower.My hubby rolls on the ground with laughter when he sees cauliflower bhaji( thats coz he think of dr. saab and the cauliflower incident..)...hey Dr. Saab... if ur reading this post.... I am sorry heheheh (dont take it to heart..:) hehehh... well I dont want to break the secret out here. So,will just get to the recipe now..

To make this you need :

Cauliflower - 1 medium

Frozen Peas - 1 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 1 to 2 slit lenghtwise

salt to taste

Corander to garnish

Oil

Method:

Clean the cauliflower well under running water. Now pull apart the cauliflower in small florets..(this can be done by hand.... u may also cut with knife.)

Now in a big kadhai...take some oil and put in the mustard seeds in it.... when it splutters add the green chillies. Now, add the peas and fry a bit.... lastly add the cauliflower and mix well. Add the remaining masalas and mix well again. Now sprinkle some water over the veggies and cook it covered for 10 -15 mins or until cooked. Remember the cauliflower should cook well but shouldnt become very tender..... orelse it will mash.

Garnish with freshly chopped coriander....this is a simple cauliflower bhaji my mom use to make often. It has no additional masala, Hence gets out the natural flavour of the vegetables.

Do try it leave ur comments...Serve hot with Chapati or phulkas.

Thank u!....thank u!......thank u!

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!..............

Sorry for the long long gap.And thanx for all urs lovely comments on my blog.Due to certain family reasons Iam away at my brother's place in memphis.......n I am having a blasttttt...hence maybe I wont be able to post anything until the end of this month...
anyways to checking the blog and keep those comments coming..


love ya all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shahi tofu and The Dangers of Soya????

Hi there.... I am back again with a tofu delicacy.... Tofu is like an eternal part of my monthly grocery.My hubby loves it and as we dont like to use paneer much we shifted to using tofu.
Just yesterday i got a mail from a friends of my explaining the bad effects of tofu and other soya products......specially on women consumers. I dunno how true is this.... but just wanted to share the mail with u all here. If anyone else specially the doctors among the food bloggers.... please kindly certify and let me know wts the truth........its real scary..... here is the main......

" DANGERS OF SOYA - VERY IMPORTANT FOR LADIESTHIS ARTICLE IS THRU THE KIND COURTESY OF MS SUREKHA RAMCHANDANI ONE WOMAN'S STORY ON SOYA... All Males - PLEASE pass this info to all your female friends... It may save their lives!Something to take note of. This is my true story, nothing altered.These are facts, as they relate to my experience, my opinions based on what I have read and felt. I am relating them to warn other young health-conscious women who are unwittingly harming themselves.In 1989, I graduated from high school in Texas and couldn't wait to hit the big college city. One of the changes I wanted to make was to eat healthier.Once I moved to health-conscious Austin , Texas , I began to fortify mybody with the best and healthiest foods I could find.Tofu was the main ingredient in every healthy dish and I bought soya milk almost every day and used it for everything from cereal tosmoothies or just to drink for a quick snack. I bought soya muffins,miso soup with tofu, soybeans, soybean sprouts, etc.

All the literature in all the health and fitness magazines said that soya protected you against everything from heart disease to breastcancer. It was the magical isoflavones, the estrogen-like hormones that all worked to help you stay young and healthy. I looked great, I was working out all the time, but my menstrual cycle was off. At 20, Istarted taking birth control pills to regulate my menstrual cycle.In addition to this I began to suffer from painful periods. I began toget puffy, it was as though I was losing my muscle tone. I began to suffer from depression and getting hot flushes. I mistook all this forPMS since my periods were irregular. By the time I was 25, my periodswere so bad, I couldn't walk.The birth control pills never made them regular or less painful so I decided to stop taking them. I went on like this for another two years until I realized my pain wasn't normal. At 27, my gynecologist found two cysts in my uterus. Both were the size of tennis balls. I went through surgery to have them removed and thank God they were benign. The gynecologist told me to go back on birth control pills.I didn't. In 1998, he discovered a lump in my breast.

Again, I went through surgery and again it was benign. In November 2000 my glands swelled up and my gums became inflamed. Thinking I had a tooth infection I went to the dentist who told me thatteeth were not the problem. After a dose of antibiotics the swelling still did not go down. At this point I could feel a tiny nodule on the right side of my neck. I told my mother I had thyroid trouble. Shethought I was being silly. No one in the family suffered from thyroid trouble. Going on a hunch I saw a specialist who diagnosed me withPapillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

After a series of tests he told me it was cancer. My fiance and I satstunned. We were not prepared and I was so scared. We scheduled surgery right away. The specialist told us that it would only be after the operation that a pathologist would be able to tell us for sure if it wascancer. They found a tumor in my right lobe composed of irregular cells and another smaller tumor growing on the left, so the entire thyroid was removed.They told me that after undergoing radioactive iodine I would be safeand assured me that I could live a long life. After treatment I began to search for the cause of all these problems. I never once thought it could be all the soya I had consumed for nearly ten years.After all, soya is healthy. I came upon a web page that linked thyroidproblems to soya intake and the conspiracy of soya marketed as a health food when in fact it is only a toxic by-product of the vegetable oilindustry. This was insane, after all, the health and fitness magazineshad said nothing about soya being harmful.I visited a herbalist who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1985. She informed me that soya was the culprit. She had a hysterectomy dueto cysts and other uterine problems. A few months later another acquaintance who had consumed soya came down with thyroid cancer.

A girl in England I met through the Internet in a thyroid cancer forum had just undergone surgery and she was only 19.What was going on???? Breast cancer is linked to estrogen. What mimics estrogen in the female body, SOYA!But I never suspected soya because until now I never once found a single article that stated soya could be dangerous. Women who took soyaprior to thyroid problems will continue to take it after if they are not aware of what soya actually does, what it contains and how itreacts in the female body. I think this is the reason that women withthyroid cancer often develop breast cancer later.My co-worker is big into soya and I see her losing hair and gaining weight despite a walking workout during her break and after work, and apples and oranges for lunch. She just had cysts removed from heruterus too.I warned her to stay off soya. I referred her to websites but until it is on the evening news on all four networks, women will suffer. Since the thyroidectomy, I do not touch soya, haven't for two years.

Dear readers, please use my story in any way you can. There are so many young girls who are consuming soya because they think they are taking care of themselves, and women taking soya because they want to behealthy.It is so unfair that the information about the dangers of soya isn't more widely circulated. It is sad. There are many out there who feel this way and it is a terrible blow when you realize you are not ashealthy as you thought and that the information that you depended onwas wrong."

Hmm this really scared me... i cant calculate how much tofu i must have had till date.... hehhe.... well i now leave this to our co blogger doctors... who will let us know the facts....rt?

Anyways this was a paneer recipe...which i exchanged with tofu....

This is how u can make it....you can use paneer here too...

Ingredients:

Tofu / Paneer - 2cups
ghee or butter - 3tbsp
onion chopped into strips - 1
ginger chopped fine - 1/2 " piece
green chillies chopped fine - 2
tomatoes chopped fine - 4
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp (optional)
cardamoms crushed -2
beaten curd - 1/4 cup
red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
garam masala - 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
milk - 1/2 cup
tomato sauce -2 tbsp
grated tofu - 2 tbsp
chopped coriander - 1 tbsp

Method:

Chop the Tofu into 2" fingers. Pan fry the tofu in little oil till they r slightly brown on both the sides. In a big pan heat half the ghee. Add onion, ginger, green chilli and cardamom. Fry for till the onions are transparent. Now, add tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes, covered.

Now, add curd and cook for 7-8 minutes.Add 1/2 cup water let it boil and then off the gas and let the mixture cool. Blend this in a mixer till smooth.
Heat remaining ghee, add gravy and other ingredients except milk and paneer. Boil till you get a very thick gravy and the raw smell from the gravy goes off. Now add the milk to it and let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes.Just before serving add the Tofu fingers and boil for 3-4 minutes.Garnish with chopped coriander and grated tofu.

Serve hot with chapati or naan.

Maharashtra ki Shaan - Misal Paav

Misal paav......every person from mumbai would know about this recipe. I simply love this item. It was some time back my back my staple food.....specially when i wasin college. we used to love the misal we used to get in the college.This misal is eaten with paav...(bun).I used to skip getting my tiffin box many a times so that i can eat the hot misal paav and vada paav from our canteen. it was so much fun.Hmmm miss all those days....



My friend who is a maharashtrian...used to make this at home..... just few days back when i was missing those old college days.... i called her and asked for the recipe.She was sweet enough to send it to me immidiately...So here goes the maharashtrian misal paav... iam sure u will love this...:)




To make this u need:


Dried white peas - 2 cups
Oil - 4 tsp
Onions-2
Jeera dhania powder - 2 tsp
Tomato - 2
Ginger garlic -1 1/2 tbsp
Green chillies - 2
Farsan - 1 packet
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 1/4 tsp
coconut paste - 1/2 cup
red chilli powder -1 1/4 tsp
salt to taste



Method:



Soak the white peas overnight. Pressure cook the peas in a cooker.

In a big pan put some oil. Fry some jeera. When it splutters, add the chopped ginger - garlic paste, and the chopped onions. Fry them till the onion turns transparent. Add the finely chopped tomatoes.When the vegetables are tender, add the masalas to the onions and roast till the raw masala smell is gone. Now add the cooked white peas and salt to this and mix well. Add 2-3 glasses of water to the peas and mix well. Get this mixture to a boil. This mixture should not be very thick. It should be watery.

Your Misal is ready to be served hot. Garnish the farsan on top on this misal.Granish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and lemon wedges. Also add some fresh chopped onions.

Serve hot with Paav or bun.

Banana Fritter Delight.

I had similar dessert in a thai restaurant. It was banana fritters served with chocolate syrup and coconut icecream. It was so tasty....... just few days back when I saw an almost forgotten banana lying in the corner I remembered that dessert. I made some changes and came up with this recipe. It turned out too good. Do try it.

Okie now as its raining bananas this is also my contribution to the JFI: banana held by Mandira of aahar (http://ahaar.blogspot.com/2007/09/jfibanana.html).





Check out the recipe.


Ingredients :

Ripe Banana - 1
Oil to fry
Roasted Seasame (Til) seeds - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 tsp
Ice cream - 2 scoops (any flavour - I used malai kulfi)
Chocolate syrup



Method:

Peel the banana and cut it into half. Now cut the half piece lenghtwise into slices. Shallow fry these slices till they are golden brown in colour on both the sides.


In a seperate pan take the sugar and add 1 tbsp water and mix well. Heat this mixture till it becomes a bit thick and turns light brown in colour. Keep this aside. This mixture shudnt be very sticky or thick...


Now for the arrangement.... in a serving plate arange the fried banana slices. Top it with the sugar syrup (u can also use honey or maple syrup according to taste) now sprinkle it with roasted sesame seeds. Put some ice cream on the plate... and pour a bit of chocolate syrup on top.Your delicious dessert is ready.





Serve the bananas a bit warm and the ice cream ice chill. It gives a Divine taste.Enjoy this amazing dessert.