Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Triple Nut Sweet

Have been seeing all the various types of sweets overflowing in various blogsites, especially in regard to the events and festivals....and was like.."Ooh my... shouldnt me too be a part of all the fun??....But I have never made any sweet of any kind myself. So, for a long time now..had been raiding various blogistes for something which I thought is possible my me too...and finally, well settled in for the Butternut Squash Halwa by Viji of Vcuisine. (Click here for the recipie) . Trust me, she is a real specialist in jams, halwa's..sweets...infact anything. I dedicate these flowers to you Viji...happy journey !!!
.
honestly, I was soo thrilled to see the halwa take its form in the Microwave, but the quantity was very less to be served to about 7-8 craving mouths (ourselves and our relatives who live in the rearby flat), so had to think of something to increase its volume..
.
So, this was how the final presentation looked like....


Triple Nut Flowers....Crushed CashewNUT Stigma, ButterNUT Squash Style and PeaNUT Petals !!!.

.


Other shapes : Halwa Cresents: Took a small ball of the halwa, flattened it with the fingures, placed few cashew crushes in the centre, and folded close, to get the cresent shape.


Halwa Roll : made into cylindrical shapes, and rolled in cashew crush.




.

This entry goes to the JFS : Diwali. Happy Diwali, Dassera and Halloween. Ofcourse, the sweet doesnt have anything to do with halloween, but being the month of october, thought better put up something relative to pumpkins too.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Rice sticks (served upside down??) and weekend in the sea...

Rice - Sticks ....it was the first time I was trying this out, and the first question that came to my mind seeing the perfectly white colour of the cooked sticks was....."Oh, my have these sticks been bleeched or tossed in Ujala (the common brand of Super-white, fabric whitener.... available in India) . The colour was way too bright!
.
Cooked the sticks in water, adding salt and for an Indian touch, added cumin seeds too..it did give a distinct flavour and taste to the sticks, believe me ....
.
Usually, pasta's are served with the toppings on top....but what if you start thinking the other way round ???
.

.
Large serving of veggies below, and the noodle on top .... life is boring without variety, u agree...???

UPDATE : This image goes straight to the Click Event by Bee with this month's theme being noodles.
.
My ever handy veg-mix :
.

This particluar veg mix of mine, has been a great time saver for me, and the best, last weekend.

All those on the right is sauted in oil, with ginger, garlic, soya sauce(the thicker variety, lest the mix gets soggy after a while) , tomato sauce, chillie sauce, dashed with salt, pinch of sugar and pepper . Thats all its about.

But, its applications are really various.

Mix it with cooked basmathi rice, u have your instant fried-rice

Mix with Noodles...ur mixed noodles..(addition of non is at your discretion)

Stuff inside a bun, make a sandwich....go on, and play with your own ideas ....

Each time i prepare my veg mix, I usually make it in large quantity, and go with any other variation the next day......and wasn't I really glad that I did !!!

The noodles was had for Thursday dinner. Fridays, Santho goes to play cricket in the mornings (God alone know what time he leaves...I will be way too asleep to keep track)
.
And on his way back, he gave me call and said "Sona we are going to beach today..get ready, Sandeep and family will be there too !!!)
.
I was like ..."Oh my God, what do I prepare ???..going to the beach without my contribution of food is the least think I can think off. Rest was all ?><)*^$##@@%)@#%%.



Arabic Sandwich:

Took Kuboos bread, applied a layer of light-mayo, layered the mix, topped with chopped chicken meat slightly fried in oil, with pepper and salt (boneless chicken meat is also an ever present thingy in my freezer... u never know when, what comes in hand!) . Top it with ketchup, roll over and in a foil. Khallaasss .









Fresh Salad

Thankfully, had my maid this weekend so off she was with the chopping of the veggies for the salad plate.
.

Well done Anita, u did a good job, and quite fast too !!!
.









.

Potato Wedge :

.Chopped as shown without removing the skin, dashed some salt, pepper and chillie powder onto it..straight to the MW till tender, and deep fried.






Shrimp Curry:
.
Sorry, I dont have a good snap of it, just managed a closeup, as and way it was packed hot in the casserol.
.
U find a really class recipie and snap of shrimps here, by dear Mishmash. I didnt have the time to wait that long to get the roasted effect, neither coconut chunks.










...and finally, this was my contibution to our this weekend beach-day out.
Marinated fish, and Kappa (Mallu's all time fav...sponsored by Anu...Sandeep's better half)

Thought I would share some of our personal moments with my co-bloggers....

This one is from our last weekend break with family n friends....


Below is one such, during last month, also with Sandeep, Anu and our cousin Ajo..not to forget our littleman Shayne !
.

The one below was a couple of month back, after we relocating our flat to this place called Mahboula, which gives us the greatest luxury of a peaceful beach just at walkng distance, and a sea view from our balcony!.. So every friday morning, is learning time...for me..Swimming !!!..Now, trust me, late 20's is not that late to start to learn..better late than never. Myself and my 2 and a half year old Shayne are learning swimming together...and Eureka!!..last week I floated by myself !!...yuppieeee!!!
.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

From yours to mine, the modified versions, and a Salad Dinner.

My husband informed me that we will be having the parents of one of his friend coming over for dinner, and it was his closest collegue from college, so I need to serve them well. Condition was "No experimenting on them, please..they are in their late 50's, one of them is diabetic, and the other is having cholesterol..so you have to careful with the ingredients, Sona".
.
So, as a proof to him that I will not make this couple my white-rats, next day showed the blogged links of these dishes below. They are tried and tested, so are fool proof. My first thought was to go the Diet Food Event, see if any posts had come up, but couldnt find what I was looking for then..(will wait for the roundup). So, gave a try , and could very well serve them, a Salad Dinner !!!
.
Prepared this Mushroom Noodle soup, by replacing chicken with mushrooms from this recipe, by The happy cook, of My Kitchen Treasures, all the way from Belgium. I used vegetable stock cube for my soup.
.

Pasta- Coleslaw, from Foodie's Hope, of dear Asha. Click here for recipe. I made the addition of cooked macroni, and raisins to it, to make it similar to the ones servred by Pizza Hut (forget KFC for a while!), used low fat milk, and Light Mayo. Did not add vinegar to this, as it was in hand for the ones below.
.
Simple cucumber salad: Cucumber sliced very thin, mixed with white vinegar, garlic powder, dry parsley , sesame seeds and salt to taste.
.
Tabbouleh, an Arabic Salad, with finely chopped parsley, onions, tomatoes, and baked to crips, arabic pita bread (kubos), mixed with extra virgin olive oil, white vinegar and salt to taste.
Warning : Add the bread pieces just before serving, lest it gets sogged by the moisture of the veggies. (Learned from my own experience. Prepared it few hours before my guests arrived, and by the time it got served, it was all soggy...hummmmmm)
The salad tastes best when the bread is really crisp.
.
Mixed Raita : Low fat curd (shop bought), mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber, baby corn, pomogranade seeds (a few), finely chopped dates, and cilantro leaves.
.
.
Saffron Rice: Fry various spices...cardamom, pepper pods, cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds, mace in butter, fry the rice too, and cook with exactly double quantity water with salt to taste. Add saffron strands to low fat milk, and mix with the rice, to get the required colour. Serve by decorating it with with fried raisins, cashewnuts and onions.
.
Naadan Kozhi curry, the Kerala Style Chicken....from Seena of Simple and Delicious, except that I added tomato as puree instead of pieces, and added a 4-5 table spoons of cashewnut paste too, to make the gravey really thick. You find the recipie here.
.
Easy custard, which even a policeman can make. Tapioca custard powder, mixed with low fat milk, and few strands of saffron added to the milk, to get a mild yellow colour. Boiled, cooled and off to set.
.
At first glance, it looks very much similar to custard prepared by the regular shop bought powders. Yet, in taste, this was different.
.
Didnt have the time to play around much with it, so decorated the same way, as you would have seen earlier in one of my posts...
.
Cut the set custard in triangles, laid a slice of mixed fruit jam over it, and what you see above on top, are my "flopp" choco-curls !
.
Hope you all enjoyed my spread. The guests enjoyed too !....Happy cooking...
.
Usually, the cookery events in the blogsphere merrily decides, what we need to cook. That was exactly the case, which made to use saffron for the rice and custard, so off it goes to the Think Saffron Event., hosted by Sunitha.
.
But, as far as diet food is concerned, it was just the other way round. Had the meal prepared, and later did I realize..well..i can sent it off to Hima of SnackORama too !!!
.
Two birds in a shot!
.
Ceyaa..catch you later !!!


Saturday, October 20, 2007

Easy Pancake, and assorted Bread variations !!!

My mom used to make this easy pancake, to feed our hungry stomach's after school...mixing Maida (flour), one egg, sugar amd milk to form a loose batter, and make them as dosa's on a flat tava. Sorry, no snaps of it..but there's something very similar done by Jeena here..
.
This still remains a fav. of mine to date, so had it made for an evening snack. As usual the story, the batter bowl still remaind unfinished, so the next day..its variations begin to take form.
.
Type I : Bread Toast :
Cover the bread in the batter, and off to a non-stick pan to toast, lightly spraying the pan with cooking oil. Cut as triangles.
.


.


Type II : Bread Sticks :
Added seasame to the pancake mix, coated it over...and thats where my slim slim vermicilli came to action!
.
Broke it down as tiny pieces and cover the bread with it. Off to shallow fry, with crushed sugar on top.


Type III : Bread Kunaffa :
Cut the bread as squares, to the panckae mix, added some instant coffee (didnt have cocoa powder, or anything related to chocolate at that time, but wanted to give it a choco-touch..so settled in for coffee, something similar atleast...)
.





...that's it....my Bread Kunaffa !!!...trust me, you see all those delicious looking sweets in the market...go wondering how in the world are they done....but, a little bit of observation, interest and creativity...you can come up with something entirely new by urselves, even with the simplest of ingredients..with the least effort too !!!!
.
Hope you all liked my extra simple snack...great way to fool your kids n hubby !!, and guests too!!!
.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Kunaffa ???..are you sure ???

Id was in the air...and still is (see the needle on the clock nearing 2 pm, and it was time to leave the office for the whole of last month, hummm.....got to wait 3 long hours more till next year, same time......till then, Ramadhan,.....I miss you!!!)
All the stores and markets will be piled up with sweets, and one think which I noticed, apart from Indian sweets, you see a lot of Vermicilli in use(the thinnest of the lot) .
.
I remember, my previous manager, Dr. Ward, who was a Briton, trying to explain to a guest who was also from UK, about Arabic sweets, and calling them "sugar-strands!!".
.
Apart from the regular use of Vermicilli in Kerala as in Semiya payasam, or Uppma....their use was very much limited, till I came to see all these sweets over here.
.
So, this is one such ***** I prepared, with the sole aim of using Wards' so called "sugar strands",which I had purchased not knowing exactly what to do with it, except the determination that it will not end up in a bowl of milk as Payasam!
.
.
.
.
I presented it to a friend of mine, who is in Kuwait for over a decade, and she was at first glance "Oh, you know to make Kunaffa, Sona!!!...can you give me the recipie, please...."
Reply : "Kunaffa ????...so..sooo..."
.
Any guess guys, whats my kunaffa is all about ???....
.
Till then, see you on Sunday, as its weekend here Friday and Saturday.
.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Pizzas-de-assorted !!!

Craving for Pizza ????...craving for some fun and excitement in your lab ???
There you gooo !!

These are my mini-pizza's, but without the usual pizz base...
.
Too lazy to bake the base, alright, there's the burger buns for your rescue...!..An easy readymade softy pizza base,..just slice a bun into two, apply tomato/pizza sauce onto the base, and let your creativity fly with the ingredients!!!
.


Pizza No I : Egg Pizza ...heard that before?..I haven't...

Sliced quail eggs, with chopped spring onions, dash of salt and pepper, scraped cheese ....

straight to the Microwave on 40% Power for 2 minutes (per Piece)

Pizza No II, Sausage Pizza (for a Pepperoni effect)

I dont have to say more, should I ???

Pizza No III, ...Extra-Spicy Super Supreme (my version, that is !)...a total mix ...chicken "scraps", mushroom, baby corn, bell pepper, tomato, anything that i could lay my hand on...with a lavish dash of pepper, and dry-parsley.

.
and finally, my true baby...A Fruit Pizza !!!.....

.

....never have seen one in any other blogs, so just takes the default patent for it...
All the veggies and non's get replaced by grapes, tiny pieces of mango, pinepple, apple, banana...see the difference..its lovely!!!
.
now thats what experimenting is all about, after all !!!

.
This is my contribution to the MEC -Snacks. Hope you all liked by Quickie Pizzas.
UPDATE: I am sending this also off to the Leftover Tuesday's event.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Spaghetti nest, for a rest....

Jai and bee of Jugalbandi has come up with this interesting photography event with this month theme being Eggs. At first place, the thought goes to egg inside a nest, but where in this desert-country-flat building of mine, as I gonna find some hay straws and stuff???
.
Well....there was no choice to that, but I could rather come up with something, similar to a nest!!!
.
First things first...NO LOGICAL THOUGHTS ON THIS SNAP PLEASE!!!
.
Anyone out there, if have wondered,..gosh!..how did that bird land up with such huge an egg....hee hee...look closely at the eyes of the bird. Think a mother bird to look at its egg that way???...Naaeeehh ..!!
.
Its an intruder!!...
.The mother quail is right after me, for stealing her other baby eggs for the omlette event, the brainbaby of Kanchana, of Married to a Desi...cruel me!!
.
Hope the images just speaks the preparation.
.
Usually, I cook spaghetti the whole pack with salt, ginger garlic paste, soya sauce and chillie sauce, a portion of it is added with sliced veggies and stuff, as a veg-version, couple of days later, it goes with non'es, to be served as a mixed plate.
.
As always the story, a portion of the cooked spaghetti gets left behind, not the least sufficient to make a serving, and hence this time, ended up as shown.
.
Curl the spaghetti around a wooden fork onto a paper cup.( I used two cups together for better stability), spread it a bit to fill in the cup, place a boiled quail egg in the centre, sprinkle pepper powder on top og the egg and the nest, cover the edges of the cup with cilantro leaves..and off for a presentation!
.
Keeping the mother bird next to the egg, or an intruder ....is all upto you.

Thats the pack I had used, the heart-healthy, whole grain wheat organic brand, and hence this post also goes to the WYF-Diet Food event by Hima of SnackORama.
.
At this point, I go back to our childhood Christmas time, when we make cribs at home...many years back, one of our older cousin brother used to make one for us, and he used to cut patches of a green grass from our "neighbour's" backyard, for the original look for the crib. ..
.
Years passed, he left to the Gulf, and it was upto me and my brother to do it. By that time, our father passed a law of the crib to be placed in our home-patio, not outdoors, ..as our dogs(3 of them!!) , to our greatest horror, very merrily used to make the grass bed their "mattress" each night, and Mother Mary and Baby Jesus would be at different poles of the garden!!!
.
So, the crib took it place from then on indoors, the green gress gets replaced by straw, next year it is replaced by paper scraps, and the next year..its just green felt paper to lay the small figurines !!!
.
One of my brothers' friend had come home the day we were making the crib, and commented "Ohh, your Jesus, is laid on paper!!!...ours is on Plywood"!!!
.
Here, from a twig-straw nest..the egg gets laid on a Spaghetti nest............. Happy nesting!!!
Update : This is also my entry to the Presto Pasta Nights event, by Ruth of 4everykitchen.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

does this look like a hard burnt cookie with a cream n jelly topping???

well....not exactly !!!!.. can call it a "Dal-cookie" if you need to...
.
Our ordinary "Paripuvadai" but served, with a difference !!! ....atleast, at first glance, the on-looker gets a suspicious look on their face, "what is this"????
.
A south indian preparation of moong-dal soaked in water for a couple of hours, and ground coarsely in the blender, mixed with chopped green chillie, curry leaves, onions , salt to taste...and off to fry.
.
(i dont think onions are a part of their original recipie..but as I didnt have an exact recipie to it, just went forward to give a try..but what I have learnt from this trial, is to better keep away from onions or shallots as the dal takes more time to cook compared to the onions, and the latter has the chance to get burnt. Few of my vadas did get burnt too, and had to dispose it.
.
Refer the images for the "slightly burnt effect" of the onions)
.
Vadai's are not anything special, as a south-indian snack, but with a difference in presentation...they are special !!!
.
I served it with a small spread of chutney(I used mango chutney, as it was already available in my freezer, so didnt have to make it all over again) on the top, and ketchup too (again for a difference!)
.
For the mango chutney, grind raw mango along with coconut scrapings, green chillie, ginger, cumin seeds, shallos , salt to taste and a touch of water.
.

I quote my Office manager here ...
.
"Anything that is right, but doesn't look right...is not right...
but...
anything that is not right, but looks right.....will be considered as right!!!
.
U get what I mean??...Thats it!!..Mine was not the right recipie, but it looked good, and hence got the compliment "Good" too !!! Thats all thats needed to make my day, and it did !
.
I am sending this over to the TCI Event on Tamil Festival foods organised by Viji of Vcuisine.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Triple Nut Sweet

Have been seeing all the various types of sweets overflowing in various blogsites, especially in regard to the events and festivals....and was like.."Ooh my... shouldnt me too be a part of all the fun??....But I have never made any sweet of any kind myself. So, for a long time now..had been raiding various blogistes for something which I thought is possible my me too...and finally, well settled in for the Butternut Squash Halwa by Viji of Vcuisine. (Click here for the recipie) . Trust me, she is a real specialist in jams, halwa's..sweets...infact anything. I dedicate these flowers to you Viji...happy journey !!!
.
honestly, I was soo thrilled to see the halwa take its form in the Microwave, but the quantity was very less to be served to about 7-8 craving mouths (ourselves and our relatives who live in the rearby flat), so had to think of something to increase its volume..
.
So, this was how the final presentation looked like....


Triple Nut Flowers....Crushed CashewNUT Stigma, ButterNUT Squash Style and PeaNUT Petals !!!.

.


Other shapes : Halwa Cresents: Took a small ball of the halwa, flattened it with the fingures, placed few cashew crushes in the centre, and folded close, to get the cresent shape.


Halwa Roll : made into cylindrical shapes, and rolled in cashew crush.




.

This entry goes to the JFS : Diwali. Happy Diwali, Dassera and Halloween. Ofcourse, the sweet doesnt have anything to do with halloween, but being the month of october, thought better put up something relative to pumpkins too.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Rice sticks (served upside down??) and weekend in the sea...

Rice - Sticks ....it was the first time I was trying this out, and the first question that came to my mind seeing the perfectly white colour of the cooked sticks was....."Oh, my have these sticks been bleeched or tossed in Ujala (the common brand of Super-white, fabric whitener.... available in India) . The colour was way too bright!
.
Cooked the sticks in water, adding salt and for an Indian touch, added cumin seeds too..it did give a distinct flavour and taste to the sticks, believe me ....
.
Usually, pasta's are served with the toppings on top....but what if you start thinking the other way round ???
.

.
Large serving of veggies below, and the noodle on top .... life is boring without variety, u agree...???

UPDATE : This image goes straight to the Click Event by Bee with this month's theme being noodles.
.
My ever handy veg-mix :
.

This particluar veg mix of mine, has been a great time saver for me, and the best, last weekend.

All those on the right is sauted in oil, with ginger, garlic, soya sauce(the thicker variety, lest the mix gets soggy after a while) , tomato sauce, chillie sauce, dashed with salt, pinch of sugar and pepper . Thats all its about.

But, its applications are really various.

Mix it with cooked basmathi rice, u have your instant fried-rice

Mix with Noodles...ur mixed noodles..(addition of non is at your discretion)

Stuff inside a bun, make a sandwich....go on, and play with your own ideas ....

Each time i prepare my veg mix, I usually make it in large quantity, and go with any other variation the next day......and wasn't I really glad that I did !!!

The noodles was had for Thursday dinner. Fridays, Santho goes to play cricket in the mornings (God alone know what time he leaves...I will be way too asleep to keep track)
.
And on his way back, he gave me call and said "Sona we are going to beach today..get ready, Sandeep and family will be there too !!!)
.
I was like ..."Oh my God, what do I prepare ???..going to the beach without my contribution of food is the least think I can think off. Rest was all ?><)*^$##@@%)@#%%.



Arabic Sandwich:

Took Kuboos bread, applied a layer of light-mayo, layered the mix, topped with chopped chicken meat slightly fried in oil, with pepper and salt (boneless chicken meat is also an ever present thingy in my freezer... u never know when, what comes in hand!) . Top it with ketchup, roll over and in a foil. Khallaasss .









Fresh Salad

Thankfully, had my maid this weekend so off she was with the chopping of the veggies for the salad plate.
.

Well done Anita, u did a good job, and quite fast too !!!
.









.

Potato Wedge :

.Chopped as shown without removing the skin, dashed some salt, pepper and chillie powder onto it..straight to the MW till tender, and deep fried.






Shrimp Curry:
.
Sorry, I dont have a good snap of it, just managed a closeup, as and way it was packed hot in the casserol.
.
U find a really class recipie and snap of shrimps here, by dear Mishmash. I didnt have the time to wait that long to get the roasted effect, neither coconut chunks.










...and finally, this was my contibution to our this weekend beach-day out.
Marinated fish, and Kappa (Mallu's all time fav...sponsored by Anu...Sandeep's better half)

Thought I would share some of our personal moments with my co-bloggers....

This one is from our last weekend break with family n friends....


Below is one such, during last month, also with Sandeep, Anu and our cousin Ajo..not to forget our littleman Shayne !
.

The one below was a couple of month back, after we relocating our flat to this place called Mahboula, which gives us the greatest luxury of a peaceful beach just at walkng distance, and a sea view from our balcony!.. So every friday morning, is learning time...for me..Swimming !!!..Now, trust me, late 20's is not that late to start to learn..better late than never. Myself and my 2 and a half year old Shayne are learning swimming together...and Eureka!!..last week I floated by myself !!...yuppieeee!!!
.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

From yours to mine, the modified versions, and a Salad Dinner.

My husband informed me that we will be having the parents of one of his friend coming over for dinner, and it was his closest collegue from college, so I need to serve them well. Condition was "No experimenting on them, please..they are in their late 50's, one of them is diabetic, and the other is having cholesterol..so you have to careful with the ingredients, Sona".
.
So, as a proof to him that I will not make this couple my white-rats, next day showed the blogged links of these dishes below. They are tried and tested, so are fool proof. My first thought was to go the Diet Food Event, see if any posts had come up, but couldnt find what I was looking for then..(will wait for the roundup). So, gave a try , and could very well serve them, a Salad Dinner !!!
.
Prepared this Mushroom Noodle soup, by replacing chicken with mushrooms from this recipe, by The happy cook, of My Kitchen Treasures, all the way from Belgium. I used vegetable stock cube for my soup.
.

Pasta- Coleslaw, from Foodie's Hope, of dear Asha. Click here for recipe. I made the addition of cooked macroni, and raisins to it, to make it similar to the ones servred by Pizza Hut (forget KFC for a while!), used low fat milk, and Light Mayo. Did not add vinegar to this, as it was in hand for the ones below.
.
Simple cucumber salad: Cucumber sliced very thin, mixed with white vinegar, garlic powder, dry parsley , sesame seeds and salt to taste.
.
Tabbouleh, an Arabic Salad, with finely chopped parsley, onions, tomatoes, and baked to crips, arabic pita bread (kubos), mixed with extra virgin olive oil, white vinegar and salt to taste.
Warning : Add the bread pieces just before serving, lest it gets sogged by the moisture of the veggies. (Learned from my own experience. Prepared it few hours before my guests arrived, and by the time it got served, it was all soggy...hummmmmm)
The salad tastes best when the bread is really crisp.
.
Mixed Raita : Low fat curd (shop bought), mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber, baby corn, pomogranade seeds (a few), finely chopped dates, and cilantro leaves.
.
.
Saffron Rice: Fry various spices...cardamom, pepper pods, cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds, mace in butter, fry the rice too, and cook with exactly double quantity water with salt to taste. Add saffron strands to low fat milk, and mix with the rice, to get the required colour. Serve by decorating it with with fried raisins, cashewnuts and onions.
.
Naadan Kozhi curry, the Kerala Style Chicken....from Seena of Simple and Delicious, except that I added tomato as puree instead of pieces, and added a 4-5 table spoons of cashewnut paste too, to make the gravey really thick. You find the recipie here.
.
Easy custard, which even a policeman can make. Tapioca custard powder, mixed with low fat milk, and few strands of saffron added to the milk, to get a mild yellow colour. Boiled, cooled and off to set.
.
At first glance, it looks very much similar to custard prepared by the regular shop bought powders. Yet, in taste, this was different.
.
Didnt have the time to play around much with it, so decorated the same way, as you would have seen earlier in one of my posts...
.
Cut the set custard in triangles, laid a slice of mixed fruit jam over it, and what you see above on top, are my "flopp" choco-curls !
.
Hope you all enjoyed my spread. The guests enjoyed too !....Happy cooking...
.
Usually, the cookery events in the blogsphere merrily decides, what we need to cook. That was exactly the case, which made to use saffron for the rice and custard, so off it goes to the Think Saffron Event., hosted by Sunitha.
.
But, as far as diet food is concerned, it was just the other way round. Had the meal prepared, and later did I realize..well..i can sent it off to Hima of SnackORama too !!!
.
Two birds in a shot!
.
Ceyaa..catch you later !!!


Saturday, October 20, 2007

Easy Pancake, and assorted Bread variations !!!

My mom used to make this easy pancake, to feed our hungry stomach's after school...mixing Maida (flour), one egg, sugar amd milk to form a loose batter, and make them as dosa's on a flat tava. Sorry, no snaps of it..but there's something very similar done by Jeena here..
.
This still remains a fav. of mine to date, so had it made for an evening snack. As usual the story, the batter bowl still remaind unfinished, so the next day..its variations begin to take form.
.
Type I : Bread Toast :
Cover the bread in the batter, and off to a non-stick pan to toast, lightly spraying the pan with cooking oil. Cut as triangles.
.


.


Type II : Bread Sticks :
Added seasame to the pancake mix, coated it over...and thats where my slim slim vermicilli came to action!
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Broke it down as tiny pieces and cover the bread with it. Off to shallow fry, with crushed sugar on top.


Type III : Bread Kunaffa :
Cut the bread as squares, to the panckae mix, added some instant coffee (didnt have cocoa powder, or anything related to chocolate at that time, but wanted to give it a choco-touch..so settled in for coffee, something similar atleast...)
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...that's it....my Bread Kunaffa !!!...trust me, you see all those delicious looking sweets in the market...go wondering how in the world are they done....but, a little bit of observation, interest and creativity...you can come up with something entirely new by urselves, even with the simplest of ingredients..with the least effort too !!!!
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Hope you all liked my extra simple snack...great way to fool your kids n hubby !!, and guests too!!!
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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Kunaffa ???..are you sure ???

Id was in the air...and still is (see the needle on the clock nearing 2 pm, and it was time to leave the office for the whole of last month, hummm.....got to wait 3 long hours more till next year, same time......till then, Ramadhan,.....I miss you!!!)
All the stores and markets will be piled up with sweets, and one think which I noticed, apart from Indian sweets, you see a lot of Vermicilli in use(the thinnest of the lot) .
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I remember, my previous manager, Dr. Ward, who was a Briton, trying to explain to a guest who was also from UK, about Arabic sweets, and calling them "sugar-strands!!".
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Apart from the regular use of Vermicilli in Kerala as in Semiya payasam, or Uppma....their use was very much limited, till I came to see all these sweets over here.
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So, this is one such ***** I prepared, with the sole aim of using Wards' so called "sugar strands",which I had purchased not knowing exactly what to do with it, except the determination that it will not end up in a bowl of milk as Payasam!
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I presented it to a friend of mine, who is in Kuwait for over a decade, and she was at first glance "Oh, you know to make Kunaffa, Sona!!!...can you give me the recipie, please...."
Reply : "Kunaffa ????...so..sooo..."
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Any guess guys, whats my kunaffa is all about ???....
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Till then, see you on Sunday, as its weekend here Friday and Saturday.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Pizzas-de-assorted !!!

Craving for Pizza ????...craving for some fun and excitement in your lab ???
There you gooo !!

These are my mini-pizza's, but without the usual pizz base...
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Too lazy to bake the base, alright, there's the burger buns for your rescue...!..An easy readymade softy pizza base,..just slice a bun into two, apply tomato/pizza sauce onto the base, and let your creativity fly with the ingredients!!!
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Pizza No I : Egg Pizza ...heard that before?..I haven't...

Sliced quail eggs, with chopped spring onions, dash of salt and pepper, scraped cheese ....

straight to the Microwave on 40% Power for 2 minutes (per Piece)

Pizza No II, Sausage Pizza (for a Pepperoni effect)

I dont have to say more, should I ???

Pizza No III, ...Extra-Spicy Super Supreme (my version, that is !)...a total mix ...chicken "scraps", mushroom, baby corn, bell pepper, tomato, anything that i could lay my hand on...with a lavish dash of pepper, and dry-parsley.

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and finally, my true baby...A Fruit Pizza !!!.....

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....never have seen one in any other blogs, so just takes the default patent for it...
All the veggies and non's get replaced by grapes, tiny pieces of mango, pinepple, apple, banana...see the difference..its lovely!!!
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now thats what experimenting is all about, after all !!!

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This is my contribution to the MEC -Snacks. Hope you all liked by Quickie Pizzas.
UPDATE: I am sending this also off to the Leftover Tuesday's event.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Spaghetti nest, for a rest....

Jai and bee of Jugalbandi has come up with this interesting photography event with this month theme being Eggs. At first place, the thought goes to egg inside a nest, but where in this desert-country-flat building of mine, as I gonna find some hay straws and stuff???
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Well....there was no choice to that, but I could rather come up with something, similar to a nest!!!
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First things first...NO LOGICAL THOUGHTS ON THIS SNAP PLEASE!!!
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Anyone out there, if have wondered,..gosh!..how did that bird land up with such huge an egg....hee hee...look closely at the eyes of the bird. Think a mother bird to look at its egg that way???...Naaeeehh ..!!
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Its an intruder!!...
.The mother quail is right after me, for stealing her other baby eggs for the omlette event, the brainbaby of Kanchana, of Married to a Desi...cruel me!!
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Hope the images just speaks the preparation.
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Usually, I cook spaghetti the whole pack with salt, ginger garlic paste, soya sauce and chillie sauce, a portion of it is added with sliced veggies and stuff, as a veg-version, couple of days later, it goes with non'es, to be served as a mixed plate.
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As always the story, a portion of the cooked spaghetti gets left behind, not the least sufficient to make a serving, and hence this time, ended up as shown.
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Curl the spaghetti around a wooden fork onto a paper cup.( I used two cups together for better stability), spread it a bit to fill in the cup, place a boiled quail egg in the centre, sprinkle pepper powder on top og the egg and the nest, cover the edges of the cup with cilantro leaves..and off for a presentation!
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Keeping the mother bird next to the egg, or an intruder ....is all upto you.

Thats the pack I had used, the heart-healthy, whole grain wheat organic brand, and hence this post also goes to the WYF-Diet Food event by Hima of SnackORama.
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At this point, I go back to our childhood Christmas time, when we make cribs at home...many years back, one of our older cousin brother used to make one for us, and he used to cut patches of a green grass from our "neighbour's" backyard, for the original look for the crib. ..
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Years passed, he left to the Gulf, and it was upto me and my brother to do it. By that time, our father passed a law of the crib to be placed in our home-patio, not outdoors, ..as our dogs(3 of them!!) , to our greatest horror, very merrily used to make the grass bed their "mattress" each night, and Mother Mary and Baby Jesus would be at different poles of the garden!!!
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So, the crib took it place from then on indoors, the green gress gets replaced by straw, next year it is replaced by paper scraps, and the next year..its just green felt paper to lay the small figurines !!!
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One of my brothers' friend had come home the day we were making the crib, and commented "Ohh, your Jesus, is laid on paper!!!...ours is on Plywood"!!!
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Here, from a twig-straw nest..the egg gets laid on a Spaghetti nest............. Happy nesting!!!
Update : This is also my entry to the Presto Pasta Nights event, by Ruth of 4everykitchen.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

does this look like a hard burnt cookie with a cream n jelly topping???

well....not exactly !!!!.. can call it a "Dal-cookie" if you need to...
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Our ordinary "Paripuvadai" but served, with a difference !!! ....atleast, at first glance, the on-looker gets a suspicious look on their face, "what is this"????
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A south indian preparation of moong-dal soaked in water for a couple of hours, and ground coarsely in the blender, mixed with chopped green chillie, curry leaves, onions , salt to taste...and off to fry.
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(i dont think onions are a part of their original recipie..but as I didnt have an exact recipie to it, just went forward to give a try..but what I have learnt from this trial, is to better keep away from onions or shallots as the dal takes more time to cook compared to the onions, and the latter has the chance to get burnt. Few of my vadas did get burnt too, and had to dispose it.
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Refer the images for the "slightly burnt effect" of the onions)
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Vadai's are not anything special, as a south-indian snack, but with a difference in presentation...they are special !!!
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I served it with a small spread of chutney(I used mango chutney, as it was already available in my freezer, so didnt have to make it all over again) on the top, and ketchup too (again for a difference!)
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For the mango chutney, grind raw mango along with coconut scrapings, green chillie, ginger, cumin seeds, shallos , salt to taste and a touch of water.
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I quote my Office manager here ...
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"Anything that is right, but doesn't look right...is not right...
but...
anything that is not right, but looks right.....will be considered as right!!!
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U get what I mean??...Thats it!!..Mine was not the right recipie, but it looked good, and hence got the compliment "Good" too !!! Thats all thats needed to make my day, and it did !
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I am sending this over to the TCI Event on Tamil Festival foods organised by Viji of Vcuisine.