Palada Payasam

Happy New Year to all the Tamilians and Keralites. I am writing a post almost 4 months after the English New Year. I made Palada Payasam for this new year.

Please check @Classic Chettinadu Kitchen for the Recipe.

Thattai - Crispy Rice-Lentil Wafers

Thattai is a traditional South Indian snack. It is an all time favourite one. It is always welcomed and relished by people of all ages. Available in the sweet and snack shops round the year. But still always home-made ones get a thumps up compared to the shop brought ones. It is very difficult to resist our temptation from Thattais.

This recipe is from a blogger friend. When I was searching for a Thattai recipe some years back I came across this recipe. Didn't keep a track of the bloggers name and web address. This recipe is very wonderful and a never let down recipe. The Thattais always come out crisp.It is very simple and easy to make. Doesn't involve any strenuous process.

Thattai

Ingredients

Raw Rice - 3 cups
Black gram - 1/2 cup
Roasted Bengal Gram dal - 1/2 cup
Bengal gram - a handful
Dry Red Chillies - 15
Shredded Coconut - 2 cups (optional)
Asafoetida Powder - 1 tsp

White Sesame Seeds - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method

1.  Soak the rice for 1 hour, drain the water and grind the rice in a mixie to a fine powder. Sieve it twice.
2.  Soak Bengal gram in enough water for about 2 hours.
3.  Roast the black gram in a dry pan to a golden brown colour. When cooled, grind it to a fine powder and sieve it once.
4. Grind the Roasted Bengal Gram with the red chillies, asafoetida & coconut to a fine paste.
5. Add the ground paste, powder, ghee, curry leaves and the soaked dal to the rice flour with enough salt & knead to a soft dough.
6. Take a clean plastic sheet. Grease it with oil. Take a small ball of the dough and place it in the center of the plastic sheet. Place another greased clean plastic sheet.
7. Flatten the ball placed between the plastic sheets with a rolling pin. Flatten it as thin as possible.
8. Cut it with a round cookie cutter. 
9. Make a small batch of it and fry it in the oil. Remove it and place it on a tissue paper.
10. Allow it to cool for some time. Preserve them in an air-tight box. 

Hosts Line-up for T&T

I am really very happy to have taken over the event "Tried and Tasted " from Zlamushka. Here I am putting down the list of future Hosts and hosts who have already hosted T&T in their blogs. Future hosts interested in hosting T&T can leave me a message here.

2010

 April 2010 - Lakshmi Venkatesh of Kitchen Chronicles- Sailu's Food - Round up

 May 2010 - Lakshmi Venkatesh of Kitchen Chronicles-Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen - Round up

June 2010 - Champa of Versatile Kitchen - Divya Vikram's Dil Se - Round up

July 2010 - Janet of the taste space - steam, bake, boil, shake - Usha's Veg Inspiration - Round up

August 2010 - Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons - Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen - Round up

September 2010 - Ria Mathew of Ria's Collection - Alka of Sindhi Rasoi - Round up

October - Priya Of Priya's Easy n Tasty Recipes - DK's Chef In You

November - PJ Of Seduce Your Tastebuds - Priya's Easy n Tasty Recipes

December - Sudeshna Banerjee of Cook Like a Bong - Mallika's Quick Indian Cooking

January - Denise of Oh Taste n See

February - 

March - Sushma Of Savi-Ruchi

April - Jeyashri of Samayal Arai

Happy Diwali - 2010

Happy to show off my Diwali Dishes this year. Each and every dish came out excellent. Recipes for some of them are from my relatives and some from my blogger friends.

The recipes will follow soon. 
Lakshmi Venkatesh

T&T : Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen & A Note of Thanks

Today I am starting my post with an apology. I apologise to Zlamushka and to all my friends for a very late round up of this event. And for posting only events and roundups and not much recipe posts. Nowadays with children and their busy schedule I am finding very lass time to spend for the blog. Though I have many pending posts.

And next I would like to heartily thank all my followers, for following me and giving me a great boost. When I was new I used to see the followers list in others blog with awe. I used to think to myself, so many followers, nice. And the day I got my first follower I was very happy and felt like flying high up in the sky. And now today when I opened my blog after a long time, I saw that the followers list has touched 100. I was very very happy to see it. To me ofcourse it seems like a great achievement which ofcourse is a result of all my blogger friends. Thanks again for all the support you give me.

Now coming to the roundup of T&T : Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.  This T&T which is being hosted by me is an event started by Zlamushka. The intention of the event is to try out recipes from a food blog each month and blog about our experience.

This month T&T is being hosted by Janet of and the blog being tasted is Usha's Veg Inspiration.

 When I was going through Zlamushka's blog I found a variety of recipes from around the world. I liked many, bookmarked many, tried a few of them. But to my disappointment couldn't post them on time.

Now without delaying further I am posting the much awaited roundup. The entries are in the order I had received them.

ChichaJo of 80 Breakfasts has tried Raisin Stuffed Chilli Pepper Pickles from Here

Cabbage Fritters by Priya Mitharwala of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipe

Cabbage Vadai by Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu Kitchen

Kerau Ra Tofu Tarkari - Nepali Peas and Tofu Curry by Sweatha if TastyCurryLeaf from here

Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen has tried out Fresh Kamut Flour and turned it into Tibetan campa from Here

Universal Pasta Sauce by Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes from Here

Cabbage Vadai by Denny Lucas of Oh Taste and See from Here

Vegetable Cream Soup tried by Christine of Kits Chow

The "5 Digestives" Tea tried by Christine of Kits Chow

Tabbouleh tried by Christine of Kits Chow

Vendakkai Mor Kuzhambu / Buttermilk Sambhar by Me (Lakshmi Venkatesh) from Here

I would also like to call for Hosts for the T&T future events. If interested you can live it as a comment here or send me a mail to kitchenchronicles1@gmail.com. For more details, please have a look here - http://delightsofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-2010-tried-tasted-event-zlamushkas.html

T&T : Sailu's Food Roundup

Exploring Sailu's Food was a very nice and tasty experience. With all those beautiful photos and tasty recipes, it was a great experience. Received many entries from my dear friends also. Thanks a lot to all my blogger friends for their response. I had tried 2 recipes from her. Both came out excellent. But posted only one, didn't have the time to post the other one.

So finally here comes the roundup.

Priya Srinivasan Of Enveetu Kitchen has tried out Mint Coconut Chutney

 SS Of  SS blogs here has tried out Lasooni Dal

Nandini Of Nandini's Food Page has tried out Aval Payasam

Next she has also tried out French Beans Fritters from here

She also tried out Kovakkai Stir Fry from here

She also tried out Stuffed Kovakkai from here

Nandini has also tried Spinach Black-eyed Peas Fritters from Here

Nandini also tried out Mango Dal from Here

Sumi of Sumi's Kitchen has tried out Methi Murg

Umm Mymoonah Of Taste of Pearl City has tried out Chicken Pickle

Kanchan Of Kitchen Gossip has tried Aloo Bhendi from Here

Menaga Of Sashiga has tried Tomato Pickle from Here

Sheba of Art, Food and Travel Chronicles has tried Tomato Dosa

Vanessa Of Sweet Artichoke has tried Bitter Gourd Stir Fry from Here

PJ of Seduce your tastebuds has tried French beans in peanut sauce

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes has tried Royallu Mudda Kura from Here

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes has also tried Andhra Chicken Pickle from Here

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes has also tried Fennel Flavored Egg Curry from Here

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes has also tried Nimmakaya Charu from Here

Jayasri of Samayalarai-cookingisdivine has tried  BEERAKAYA PAALU POSINA KURA

Jayasri of Samayalarai-cookingisdivine has also tried NIMMAKAYA PAPPU , BEERAKAYA THOKKU PACHADI AND KAKARAKAYA KARAM

Kiran of SUMADHURA has tried Coconut Rice from Here

Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipe has tried Gulab Jamun

And she has also tried French Bean Fritters

I once again thank all my blogger friends who had all sent their enthusiastic entries and have showed their luv and gratitude towards Sailu's Food.

Please remember to send in your entries for T&T : Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. This time it is her blog itslef which is being Tried and Tasted. For details please visit http://delightsofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-2010-tried-tasted-event-zlamushkas.html. Last date to receive entries : 10th June

ICC April Challenge : Rasmalaai

Rasmalaai is a traditional South-Asian sweet. Rasmalaai consists of soft, spongy flattened balls of Paneer floating in sweet condensed milk which is delicately flavoured.

So this month's Indian Cooking Challenge , a monthly event by Srivalli of Spicing Your Life, was this lip-smacking Rasmalaai.

It was the first time I was trying to make Rasmalaai at home. And to my surprise it was dam easy to make. And so delicious that my children also relished eating them. I was floating in the heavens seeing the soft spongy balls of Paneer floating on the Ras.

Making Rasmalaai is a easy, step by step process. First step is to make the flattened Paneer Balls. The next step is to soak them in sugar syrup. And the final step is to prepare the condensed slightly sweetened milk.

Let us have a look at the recipe now.

Ingredients:


Milk - 3 litres (2 litres for making paneer and 1 litre for making Rasa/Condensed Milk)
Vinegar- 3 tbsps
Water-5 cup
Sugar- 16 tbsp (8 for Sugar Syrup and 8 for Rasa/Milk Syrup)
Saffron- 8 pieces
Pista-10 finely chopped
Maida flour- 1 tsp
Cardamon-2 (crushed)

Method:


Ist step : Preparation of Paneer

IInd step : Preparation of Sugar Syrup

IIIrd step : Preparation of Milk Syrup/Rasa


I. Preparation of Paneer :

Boil 2 litres of milk. When the milk boils, add vinegar. wait for a minute or two. the paneer will start floating on top and the whey water will stay on the bottom of the vessel. Now with a muslin or a cotton cloth, filter the paneer and pour 2 cups of water on it, to remove the sourness of vinegar and then tie it well and let it hang on for one hour, till the whey water drops out and squeeze them well. Now transfer the paneer to a broad vessel and knead it to make a soft spongy dough. Knead it atleast for about 5 minutes or till there is not much of moisture content left in it. Now add a spoon of maida flour to the paneer and make small flattened ball. Keep the size little small since it will almost double its size in the sugar syrup.


Do not throw away the whey water, let it get soured for about 1 week. After that pour it into a bottle and refrigerate it. This soured whey water will be good for one year of time. When you want to make paneer, you can use this whey water instead of vinegar/lemon juice.



II. Preparation of Sugar Syrup:

In a wide-bottomed pressure cooker, add three cups of water and eight table spoons of sugar. Now when it boils, add the paneer balls one at a time. If you have kneaded well the paneer, the balls will not break. Let it get pressure cooked for 10 minutes in slow flame or for 2 whistles.

After the steam is relaesed open the cooker. The Paneer balls would have doubled in size. Slightly press each and every ball to remove the excess sugar syrup.


III. Preparation of Condensed Milk/Rasa:

When you are starting to prepare sugar syrup. start making milk syrup/rasa side by side. Have one litre of milk in a wide bottomed vessel and let it boil and get reduced into half of the quantity. Add eight table spoons of sugar and mix well. Add saffron and crushed cardoman to it and mix well. Put the paneer ball's into the rasa/milk syrup. Cool it down and refregirate it.

Serve with chopped pistachios on top. Though the process looks long when written down, its very easy and worth a try.

May 2010 : Tried & Tasted Event - Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen & Event Take Over Announcement

Surprised are you with the Title of this post. Yes, it is true. This month it is Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen Blog which going to be tried and tasted by us. Tried & Tasted Event is the brain child of Zlamushka.

So here it is in her own words on, Why she started this event? What was the necessity of starting this event?

"Bookmarks and RSS readers are great. They keep your favourite recipes neatly organised. Yet regardless of which tag they bare, Sweet, Indian, Bread, Curry, Vegetarian,… you name it, I am quite positive that similarly to mine, they all fall into one general category: To-be-tried-SOON!

And I am pretty sure that this crosses your mind each time you hit the update button. Soon, however, never comes and when it does, it is fairly difficult to decide which one we should try.

Yesterday, I caught myself bookmarking more new wanna-tries again (sigh). I accidentally happened to browse all the “Starred items” I already piled up and the list was just unbelievably long. I cannot help it, I am curious to try em all!....

So here is when I thought to myself: All righty, this is not going anywhere. I need to start re-creating all these “ooh-aah” mouth drooling yummies. Slowly and systematically! And that was when I created a new folder “Tried and Tasted”… Cute folder, yet empty.

And so here it starts - Tried and Tasted (T&T) – a monthly event of appreciation of other blogs - an opportunity to thank your fellow bloggers for sharing their recipes by re-creating them. Peek into their kitchen to see what’s cooking and go for it! Take it, make it and say it!

Having your recipes lead somebody else’s kitchen is a divine feeling. Trust me, I know what I am writing about. Couple of weeks after posting my Raisin Stuffed Chili Pepper Pickle, I was extremely excited to read Joey of 80 Breakfasts writing about how she made them…

The aim of T&T is similar – to explore other foodies tastes, appreciate them and confirm that their recipes are worth it!"

Reading her writing itself makes us feel, yes we also like to appreciate our fellow bloggers this way. This is a wonderful way isn't it to show our gratitude towards our fellow bloggers for their lovely and hard work. Isn't it?

So I thought it's high time now that we thank such a nice person for her good thought, a beautiful event and for her nice blog.

So here are the simple rules for it :

1. 
   
   Cook any recipe(s) from Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post :-)
2. 
   
   There is no time-frame for the original recipe. It can be as old as my grand-mother or as fresh as a mung bean sprout.
3. 
   
   Have you cooked from Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen before? As this event is all about tasting and reflecting on the taste, older posts are also welcome. Simply link to this post and mention T&T event.
4. 
   
   Link your post to HERE (feel free to use the logo which will be up soon) and to the original post i.e. http://www.burntmouth.com/2008/04/tried-and-tasted-event-to-show-how.html.  Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright fuss. 
5. 
   
   Send me an e-mail (kitchenchronicles1(at)gmail(dot)com) with Subject : T&T May 2010, your name, your post URL as well as the original URL and a picture (300px by height, please).
6. 
   
   Deadline is the June 10th, 2010 and the round up will be posted within a week.
7. 
   
   Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate (after all, our posts are mainly being written for them). Simply e-mail me with your experience of what you cooked and please include a picture.  

This beautiful logo is designed by Ksenia of Tales Of A Spoon. Thanks a lot Ksenia.

 Here is one more important announcement. Since Zlamushka is busy nowadays she was finding it difficult to keep the T&T event going on. And so she has passed on the event to me. That was very greatful of you dear Zlamushka. Though I am taking over the event from her, she remains to be the mother of the great T&T event.

TELL US HOW WE COOK!

Do any of you bloggers out there want to be cooked from? If so, e-mail me or submit your comments here. The question you need to answer for yourself first is: “Do you dare being tasted?”

SHOWING OUR GRATITUDE : FUTURE HOSTS

Do any of you bloggers out there want to show your gratitude towards your fellow bloggers? If so, please let me know through e-mail or by leaving a comment here.

Paneer Bhurji : T&T : Sailu's Food

Children like Paneer a lot. And its very heatlhy for them also. So I thought of Trying out Sailu's Paneer Bhurji. Though I had made Paneer Bhurji before it was of different version. Children liked this version a lot. A very simple and easy to prepare dish.

Paneer Bhurji is a good combination with Chapathis/Rotis. And a good one for the children's lunch box also.

And so here comes the Tried and Tasted Recipe of Sailu's Paneer Bhurji in her own words.

Ingredients:

1 cup grated paneer

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

pinch of turmeric pwd

1/4 tsp red chilli pwd

pinch of cumin pwd

1/2 tsp coriander pwd

1/4 tsp kasuri methi (I left this out)

pinch of garam masala pwd

4-5 tbsps of low fat milk

salt to taste

1/2 tbsp oil

chopped fresh corainder for garnish

1 Heat oil in a vessel, add chopped onions and green chillis, saute till onions turn transparent. Add turmeric pwd, cumin pwd, coriander pwd, red chilli pwd and kasuri methi and combine. Add the chopped tomato and cook till they turn soft, approx 3-4 mts.

2 Add grated paneer and stir well to combine and cook for 2-3 mts. Add the low fat milk and toss the contents on medium high flame and see that the paneer does not stick to the vessel. The milk should evaporate. Add garam masala pwd and combine.

3 Finally, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis or bread

30th April is the last date to receive T&T : Sailu's Food

RCI - Mumbai Roundup

Finally here is the RCI - Mumbai Roundup. This was also a long time pending roundup.

I thank all my friends for their enthusiastic participation & colourful entries. There so many versions of Pavbhaji and many more dishes.

I thank Lakshmi Of Veggie Cuisine for giving me this opportunity to host RCI - Mumbai here in this blog.

I will put up the versions of Pavbhaji first and then the others.

Please Note : Hurry Up !!!!!!!!!!!! Please send your posts for the T&T (Tried & Tasted) : Sailu's Food event going on here. Last date for receiving entries April 30th. For details please visit : http://delightsofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/04/tried-and-tasted-sailus-food.html 

Pavbhaji

By Supriya of Celebrating Little Things in Life

By Kanchan Kamat Of  Kitchen Gossip

By Padma Of Padma's Recipes

Recipe URL:  http://padmasrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/12/pav-bhaji.html

By Shubha of  MunchCrunchandSuch's Blog

Home-made Pav & Pav bhaji

By Priya Of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes

By Supriya Of Queen of my kitchen

By Malini Of "Khana Khazana with Malini"

By Saraswathi Iyer Of Sara's Corner

By Sowjanya Of Ruchikacooks

By Siddhi Shirsat Of Cooked Dil Se...!!!

And now for the other entries

 Peas Potato Cutlets
By Shri Of Tiffin Carrier Antiques

Fried Bread Rolls

2nd Entry By Shri Of Tiffin Carrier Antiques

Ragda Patties
By Sayantani  Of A home maker's diary

Churmuri Bhel

2nd Entry By Saraswathi Iyer Of Sara's Corner

 Masalapuri

3rd Entry By Saraswathi Iyer Of Sara's Corner

Tikki Puri

4th Entry By Saraswathi Iyer Of Sara's Corner

Ghavne/RiceFlour Pancake
SE(Denufood) Of Denufood-Delicious&Nutritious Food



 

Tapioca/Sabudana Khichdi
2nd Entry By SE(Denufood) Of Denufood-Delicious&Nutritious Food

Kande Pohe/Spicy Flattened Rice flakes
By Swathi Of Zesty South Indian Kitchen

 Bhel puri
Lata Raja Of Flavours and Tastes

Kutchi Dabeli
Deepti Thete Of MyKitchensAroma
 
 

Chana Bateta
By Fazela Vohra Of Kharas Mithaas

Puran Poli
Priya Srinivasan Of Enveetu Kitchen
 
 
 
 

  Ragada Patties
2nd Entry By Padma of Padma's Recipes
 
 
 
 

Sev Puri
3rd Entry By Padma Of Padma's Recipes
 
 
 
 
 

Susheela
2nd Entry by PJ Of Seduce your tastebuds

Solkadi
By Supriya Of Celebrating Little Things in Life

Valachi Usal
By Supriya Of Celebrating Little Things in Life


And coming forth are the entries by Siddhi Sirshat Of Cooked Dil Se...!!!. She has sent 19 entries in all. She says, she is a great fan of Aamchi Mumbai Food. The entries itself is like a small round-up of RCI - Mumbai

1)Stuffed suralichi vadi

2)vada pav

3)vangi bhaat

4)cheese dabeli

5)veg grilled sandwich

6) tawa pulao

7)chicken frankie

8)pakori chaat

9)basundi

10)sweetcorn piyush

11)ragda pattis

12)sabudana vadas

13)kharvas

14)pav bhaji

15)onion pakoda

16)corainder vadi

17)pani puri

18) sabudana thalipeet

19)sev batat puri

Thanks a lot to all the entusiastic participants and to my dear friends for making this event a great success.