Month: January 2008

Oven Roasted Garlic

Oven Roasted Garlic

Life at work and home is so hectic that some days I don’t even know if I am coming or going. On the work front, it is like the people who were asleep last December are suddenly waking up to the dawn of the New 

Chapathi Quesadilla

Chapathi Quesadilla

So this last Friday it was just me and the little one at home for dinner. Dear Husband had a dinner-meeting with his work colleagues and he was off for the night. I did not want to slave and spend a lot of time in 

Simple Dry Potato Fry ( Alugadde palya/ Aloo Sabji)

Simple Dry Potato Fry ( Alugadde palya/ Aloo Sabji)

potato 002

Don’t we all have few of those recipes in our repertoire? Simple yet flavorful, easy yet delicious, cool ingredients yet adds warmth to our hearts and most important of all takes us back through our memory lane and reminds us of our old comforting times. And then, when the food is brought to the dinner table, all you hear is: Silence and then “Mmmmm”. No groaning or whining from young and old alike and you mentally make note of this as a “Comfort-approved” food. 

I learnt this from my husband who in turn had watched his Ammamma (maternal grandmother) in South Kanara. She would prepare this with so much care and affection, the warmth that only grandmother’s can have. She would cut the potatoes into long strips as they would cook easily. As a young boy, the shape would appeal to my husband and it would be easy to pick up the potato and put it in his mouth.

This is my contribution to Monthly Mingle: Comfort Foods an event hosted by the wonderful and talented Meeta at What’s For Lunch Honey?

Ingredients

  • 2 large potatoes (cut into long strips)

  • 1 small onion (diced)

  • 2 pods garlic

  • Mustard

  • Jeera

  • Red Chilli powder

  • Curry leaves

  • Turmeric

  • Oil

  • Salt to taste

 Preparation:

  • Take a heavy bottom pan; add about 2 Tbsps of oil. Add mustard, curry leaves and jeera.

  • Add crushed garlic followed by diced onions and fry until onions turn transparent.

  • Now add salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Mix well and add the cut potatoes.

  • Stir well, so that all the mixture coats over the potatoes. Add little oil in intervals if the mixture turns dry and mix well.

  •  Alternately sprinkle little water over the potato mixture and mix thoroughly. After a while test to see if the potatoes are cooked. Once cooked the curry is done.

 This tastes good with Rotis, Phulks, Puri or Rice.

Black eyed Bean Barley Dill Soup

Black eyed Bean Barley Dill Soup

Life gets so hectic and consuming sometimes that there is no time to think of anything beyond ourselves. So it is refreshing to take a break once in a while from the monotony and look at things from a fresh perspective.  Thankfully I had this 

Microwave Wheat Ladoos (Churmundo, Churma Laddu)

Microwave Wheat Ladoos (Churmundo, Churma Laddu)

With buildings, retail stores, restaurants, homes, palm trees sprawled on either side of the road the drive pretty much seemed the usual. The weather seemed perfect not too hot or too cold and the visitors scrambled along trying to make the most of this beautiful 

Eggless Raisin Cake

Eggless Raisin Cake

sugar_cake 002

 It was whirlwind of activities, planning, packing, last minute cooking etc ever since Dear Husband planned a beach side vacation for the family 2 weeks ago. Everything fit right in, the hotel reservations, travel arrangements, time off from work, the temperature.  The vacation was just what the doctor had ordered to get away from the usual grind and seemed like a glorious way to end the year 2007.

Both me and my husband love munching on stuff, chatting, listening to music, enjoying views during long drives and so I always make it a point to carry lots of goodies and keep it within hands reach in the car. So even this time around I wanted the same. However, because of lack of time I did not have time to prepare lots of stuff and had to rely on store bought stuff. However for a long time I had this cake in mind as it is easy to make and also requires very less ingredients. I hurriedly made it in the morning and even managed to click some pictures before the travel. I was however not disappointed by the taste and texture to say the least.

For this recipe, I have made some changes to the original recipe to suit my requirements and here is the process:

 PS: I completely forgot to mention that this was going to be my contribution to AFAM:Dry Fruits hosted by Latha and Lakshmi of the Yum Blog. Blame it on the vacation and holidays and I hope it is not late now.

Ingredients

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
5-6 cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups raisins (chopped coarsely)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

sugar_cake 009

Method 
1)  In a pan, combine brown sugar, water, shortening, cloves, cinnamon and raisins. Bring to a boil, and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2)  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a pan.
3)  Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4)  In a large bowl, combine the raisin mixture with the flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan.
5)  Bake for 55 minutes, or until knife inserted into cake comes out clean.

Sweet Pongal (Huggi)

Sweet Pongal (Huggi)

One convenient reason why blogging makes it worthwhile for me is because I can refer to my own recipes online anytime for years to come. I know it sounds silly, but it is true.    A few days ago while contemplating what to make for dinner;