Cooking from blogs!

First and foremost I want to thank all the food bloggers out there sharing their adventures in their kitchen,I had tried many of them and bookmarked many.
The first recipe that I tried from blog was hyderabadi marag by nabeela of trial and error,that is when I learnt the concept of food blogging!
How I got the marag recipe?Since I am from Hyderabad,I used to have marag back there,now its almost 3 years I have left hyderabad and was missing the food, so while googling for hyderabadi marag,I got the first search result nabeela's marag,then again a little more googling yielded manisha's from indian food rocks's marag.So this is how one blog led me to another and now,thanx to all the bloggers I have learnt some really nice recipes and kitchen tricks.I have made the mango pudding from Nandita's Saffron trail. A really simple and yet tasty recipe .Here is what I made using her recipe.


Then once shopping I brought a huge bag of carrots and didn't know what exactly to do with it,so browsed around and found a very good recipe of carrot pickle by Nupur of One hot stove, she made rajma paraths from talimpu,so I did the same,I took the pic of the rajma paratha,So here it is

Then I also liked the recipe of Pav bhaji by Nupur, I made that and it turned out fantabulous...I rate it 5 stars...everybody at home loved it, I had leftover bhaji,so I had some Portuguese bread,so I stuffed in it the bhaji and pressed the bread in the waffle maker,since I don't have a grill....wow man ,was that great?...I don't have an oven right now,but people I had been thinking this idea for very long, you can use this bhaji on a pizza base instead of sauce..wont that be tasty desi style pizza....this pav bhaji tastes exactly like the mumbai chaupathi pav bhaji...we used to have it during our visits in summer to our uncle's house in mumbai...hmmm memories ...sigh! this brought back those memories.
P.S: Sorry for the bad pic,this was in a hurry,coz it was getting late for dinner.

Now is the picture of marag , one of my favourite dish..and darn easy to make!I also made coleslaw,hariyali chicken....and have an eye on cinnamon rolls,challah bread from trial and error..will make it soon.

Now ,this recipe is really precious for me,because this one is what my mom used to make, its the kofta curry by Mona of Zaiqa.My Mom used to make it along with ambade ki bhaji and steamed rice, I regret not learning to cook as I miss the stuff that she used to make,So when I saw this recipe I immediately bookmarked it and made, but I made it without methi.It turned out very tasty! will upload the pic soon ,Some of the recipes in zaiqa are the ones I grew up eating, so I love to read, do try out her khadi masoor ki dal,my mom used to make it with bhendi ka khatta sherwa and steamed rice...then I got adventurous one day and tried bisi bhalle bhaath by khanapina,I loved it but my not so vegetarian husband didn't venture into the adventure:)
then just yesterday I saw the recipe to make use of the leftover slices of bread...I really appreciate the idea of making use of stuff by altering the conventional methods....I loved it and so did my husband...its by coffee of spice cafe,its like bread upma.Sorry did not take pic as I was very hungry at that time and did not have the patience to take a picture!
matar paneer from mahanandi is great...there you also have the recipe to make paneer.
So...I am addicted to blog hopping now...thanx to it that I have developed an interest for cooking!

kheema pulaao and brinjal fry

I am late, I am late!

who says this? The rabbit in the Alice in wonderland cartoon! And I am joining him...I wanted to take part in a number of blog events..meeta's monthly mingle for 1 dish meal...I prepared that but never found time to post the recipe and the entry to the monthly mingle, now that march is long gone its no use, but the recipe is nevertheless a must try!
And you know the cartoons are doing a lot of impact on me no wonder I am talking in that way..thats evident from my first line... Sameeha(or for that matter all kids)is crazy about cartoons, just to keep her busy till I am done with my cooking,I used to put the tom and jerry cartoon, Now she has a huge collection of it...barbie, tom and jerry ,looney tunes,cinderella 1,2,3.mermaid 1,2....I have never seen so many cartoons....all we got those days was an hour of cartoon,...jungle book..or disney hour,duck tales,talespin...but now kids have cartoon network 24 hrs...
Huda on the other hand has learnt to stand up on her own,all these days she was holding the furniture and stuff to pull herself up, now she is doing it by herself,and yesterday she took first steps, only 3 steps...but on her own between two sofas....17 April 2008...I wanna write it down before it slips out of my mind... she is now enjoying attention from everybody,she understands if I tell her "badmaash" and starts whining whenever I say that:-) looks like she will start walking in a couple of weeks.

Last weekend we went to the desert safari with our family friends ,It was really fun, we made a tent,did barbecue...it was really fun, and the weather was also very good!
Anyways coming back to the food part, this recipe I learnt from my neighbor who is from mumbai, exactly this time last year we shifted to this house,huda wasn't there that time,that is when she brought this for us,and I liked it a lot and asked for the recipe and from that time made many times....along with that I made brinjal fry and cucumber raita...
I hated brinjal,except for the bagara baigan. So, I never tried to learn anything with brinjal. But,sometime back when we visited my husband's friend's house, who is from pakistan, we tasted this, and it was a super hit instantly,and is easiest thing you can make, and it can be eaten as a side dish with rice and dal or any curry, or you can have it with roti...and also you can have that by itself....super easy and super yummilicious...do try it out at least once.. even if you are a brinjal hater!

Brinjal Fry :
ingredients

2 large brinjal
chat masala
oil for frying
method
--wash the brinjal, and slice it! again wash it
--in a large bowl spread out the brinjal an sprinkle the chat masala generously, and toss the bowl so that each slice of brinjal gets the coating of chat masala, alternately if you think that each slice will not get sufficient coating,apply the chat masala to each slie that will be a long process
--heat about 1 cup of oil in a frying pan,when it is hot lower the flame and put the brinjal slices one by one,fry one side without turning for a minuite and then flip and fr the other side, fry till its dark brown.
--take it out on a paper towel so that excess oil is drained,repeat with the rest of the brinjals
--Enjoy it with roti, or as a side dish or by itself!!



Kheema pulaao

ingredients

kheema 400gms
basmati rice 500 gm
2 onion
1 tomato
2 inch cinnamon stick(2)
4 cardamom pods(2)
1 tbsp zeera
1 inch ginger or you can use ginger paste
2 flakes garlic
1 tsp red chilly powder(adjust to your level)
salt
1/4 tsp haldi
3/4cup whole masoor daal(whole red lentils or akhi masoor daal or daal moth)
1 cup yogurt
cilantro 1/2 cup chopped
mint2 sprigs
green chillis2-3
5-10 peppercorns

method
--wash and soak the rice.
--Soak the whole red lentil for at least an hour,finely slice the onion ,fry till golden, drain it on a paper towel.then crush it well.
--In a blender, blend ginger,garlic,zeera,cardamom,cinnamon,tomato. keep aside.
--wash the kheema well.
--In a saucepan heat oil,when its sufficiently hot,put the blended mixture,fry for sometime,then put chilly powder,salt,haldi,then put the soaked lentils, then fry it for some time,then put the fried and crushed onion to it,fry for sometime, then put kheema.
--Bhoonofy the kheema well, and then add yoghurt and mix well.
--Fry till the water evaporates,then put about half a cup of water and clantro.
--cover and cook till all the water evaporates,and both kheema and the lentils are cooked well.

--In another thick bottom saucepan, put about 15 cups of water,to it ad mint leaves,cilantro,green chillies,cinnamon,cardamom,peppercorns and salt, cover the saucepan with a lid.
--when the water starts boiling ,out the soaked rice to the boiling water.
--cook the rice till it is 3/4 done
--drain the rest of the water
--Now,transfer half of the rice in another large plate,layer the kheema over the rice in the saucepan, then again layer the remaining rice in the plate over the kheema layer.
--now put blobs of ghee on the rice layer.
--cover it it tight with the lid
--put it on high heat for about2 mins,then lower the flame and cook til vapours ooze out of the lid.
--turn off the flame and let it stand for about10 mins, then mix the layers well andserve hot with raitha.

Dessert in desert !

At last I am proud of what I made!! Though fruit salad is a really simple and easy dessert,but a little bit of decoration makes it more appealing and gets you a lot of appreciation,especially from your better half, wo kehte hain na..'miyan khush tho hum khush'.
Last night I made custard..no,not from scratch..then chopped some fruits and tossed it into the custard,then chilled the dessert! Sameeha loves flavored jelly, so I made some for her...chilled that too...then decorated the custard the result was this.


P.S. I used some of Sameeha's jelly for the decoration....I love kiwi...isnt it beautiful!!

Hmm....the heat wave is catching up in Dubai, as the mercury levels soar,we need a drink to keep us cool, as mango season is also coming up, this is an apt drink. But to be honest, this is not from the seasonal mangoes. During our last visit to Carrefour, I bought a huge can of mango pulp, I used up half of it for mango lassi, and the rest I am planning to make something from a blog that I recently read, So here are the pictures of the lassi....proceedure? well its very easy
in a blender mix the mango pulp, yogurt,sugar,lil orange juice,milk,1/2 banana .....serve chilled!



But this is a heavy drink,I mean since mango and banana and yogurt and milk...all constitutes to high calorie contents....a glass of this will be filling and you will feel like skipping the lunch or dinner....and I don't think this will be an appropriate choice for drink after food..as I am sure you wont be able to finish it!
But believe me..its super yummy!






Sameeha also loved this!