How to choose Spring Onions

 Some call it Green onion, some call it spring onion, some call it scallions and I heard a lady at super market call it long onions! Although prepared with list of groceries and veggies to buy she sounded bit confused about how to pick "long onions". That made me think it would be a good start to first post about how to pick and store Spring onions.
Here in states I don't usually see big bulbs of onions in spring onion. It is rather skinny and with less leaves than what I  used to get in India, specially in the season of winter.

Contrary to other hybrid veggies (usually bigger and fuller in volume than organic ones) I think the type of spring onions we get here is exception.

Above is what we get in India(in left)  compared to what we get in USA (on right)


Here are few pointers for picking and storing spring onion. It is easier than one would think. I was immature at picking right veggies too but slowly with some experience I started discovering what is right for my dish and for storing for long time and here it is:


To pick best of Spring onions:

• Go for the one with green leaves and firm onion bulbs. Do not choose those with limp onion yellowish leaves. 
• The white onion part can vary in size. I personally think the bigger it is the more tasty it will cook. However thing onions as to what we get in USA market here is also right kind to cook and make salads with. 
• I cook it fresh and usually cut and wash it just before cooking. For busy cooks, it can be washed , dried and then cut in to small round pieces to store in a zip-lock bag until you plan to use it. 
  
• As spring onions are the immature onions , they are full of moist. After cutting even when kept in refrigerator it is advisable to use it in 1-2 days. 

If you have any ideas of storing, picking this tender veggie, keep sharing.

Here is mine - Ready to store or ready to cook ? 

Vegetable of the Week -Bottle Gourd Round Up

Bottle gourd round up.

55+ delicious dishes…

12 such dishes which you might have never heard of it .

Above all do u know that bottle gourd can make a wonderful one dish dinners too?
We have 8 to cherish :) .

Good chance to start eating this humble veggie and for its lovers nice recipe to enjoy your love for bottle gourd :D .

Dear friends Pratibha and Jigyasa reminded me of how much Ramdevbaba emphasis on eating bottle gourd in all possible way. Check out what I recently came through, this article, it says bottle gourd's price has shot up from Rs 4 to Rs 15 a kg.

I couldn’t control my laugh after reading it . Before its prices start rising here too get some now, keep some stored and enjoy your favorite dishes from below…. And when you are done checking round up don’t forget to vote for you favorite entries in all 3 categories.

Bottle gourd Rajgara paratha Canapé .

This is one starter item made using Bottle gourd and rajgara flour. Rajgara flour is normally we use as staple food for the days when we observe fasts. At my mom’s place certain religious days like Shivaratri, Ramnavami and Janmashthami are the days for fast .

Bottle gourd with bean sprouts

This is one of the accidentally innovated recipe in my kitchen. One lazy day I found few mix sprouts and a quarter of bottle gourd resting in a corner of my fridge. And thinking to make a quick curry. I tried cooking them together as bottle gourd alone was not enough to serve us. Let me first share the recipe before I get on to other topics to bore you with :D . People say I am a chatterbox. (Believe me I am like that only with the people I like ). Fortunately blogger has introduced to many loving people, whom I feel exactly like me , and which really makes me feel better to share everything with them . Now a days blogging is not just a hobby , but a place where I can share many thing and feel relaxed by doing so : ) . Thank you all of you around here who really makes my day in many ways. Now back to recipe first.... I call it "bottlegourd with Beans " . Couldn't find any good name , if you have any nice name in mind for this dish , share it here and reserve this dish by your name :) .

Haandvoh-Mom's recipe

Haandavoh is a popular Gujarati dish. Here the recipe of how my mom makes it.

Traditionally it is cooked from the same flour we use for Dhokla and allowed to ferment the same way. How ever the further steps are different for ingredients and cooking process which makes both of them too different in their final taste . Definitely both of them makes a very healthy dish

Vegetable of the Week is -

Bottle Gourd.
Sadly no one guessed it correct and here I am to announce it.
Call it Dudhi(in Gujarati ) , dudhi bhopla(in Marathi ) , lauki( in Hindi) Sorakaya( in Telugu??? ) , or simply bottle gourd .
This light to digest veggie has many benefits to consume it . I am going to try making something this month which might help the haters of it to convert into its lover .

And the Award for Bell Pepper dishes goes to....

The Most Authentic Recipe - Alka keshwani for Sindhi style Dhaas Shimla Mirch

VoW- JFI "Bell Pepper " Round up

First of all apology to all whom I kept waiting for this Round Up to appear. And a big thank you dear Indira , for providing me this opportunity to host JFI and allowing me to combine it with VoW. Blogging and specially these events and round ups are something I just love to do , knowing that LOVE of mine I made some resolutions myself to follow it silently ( you know now, why I am not blogging that much now ) and surprisingly I followed it too :z . Last week was one such time where again I set up a resolution for myself to complete a certain task first before I publish this round up. And my "eager to publish this" heart made me complete that task too even faster, so I am a happy girl now while publishing this to all of you :).

One Post 2 Guests- for VoW-JFI Bell Peppers...

Mumbai girl Supriya Natu lives in Seattle with husband and 5 year old cute daughter. She sent me this on 27th to be a part of "VoW-JFI- Bell Peppers "

Here is her recipe of Quesadilla in her own words...

Tawa Vegetables, clicking Beans n lentils & Mango Manthram :D

I loved "Tawa vegetables" in restaurants , and we had enough of that in Pune at a restaurant names"Atithya"( which literally mean the warm way to welcome guests). I loved the name ,service, cleanliness and food of that restaurant. Now ever since I moved out of NJ , I try those restaurant styled curries at home mainly. It is not easy to rush to nearest Indian restaurant now, as the nearest one is also not so near :)). But I must accept that it prompts me to try many innovative thing in my kitchen now. And over all my mind is working much on how to make such curries... and likely thoughts... to make it perfect with colors and tastes too. Here is something which I tried recently.
Tawa vegetable means vegetables cooked on flat styled pan (Tawa) adding some spices to it. They normally fry (shallow/deep ) each veggies and paneer.Then together cook it for a while adding all the spices and paneer cubes for a while. Tastes always too good, and who count the amount of fat you deposit when you eat out :)).

Lets celebrate completion of 2 brilliant year of JFI together....

It's been exactly 2 years since we had first round up of JFI .Completing 2 successful years on May 1^st , Jihva for Ingredients is now landing on "My creative Ideas" for the month of May. Last year when Indira herself hosted it with the beautiful theme of "Mother earth" (JFI-Greens) for the 1^st anniversary of JFI. This year Jigyasa and Pratibha did a wonderful job at Jihva for Love round up.

To celebrate the completion of dazzling 2 years of this food event, JFI and VoW is coming together this spring to invite you to cook colorful dishes with ”Bell Peppers “ .

(Bell pepper image courtesy - http://www.producepedia.com)

Bell Peppers/Sweet peppers/Capsicum/ Shimla Mirch/Tondali Mirch – call it by any name it is always a good option to cook a healthy dish . And who don’t love the colors they have ? So put your thinking cap on and send in something nice soon .... :) .

VoW-Bitter gourd awards goes to...

Cham for her Pavakai Kozhambu ( Bitter gourd curry ) .

The award for VoW-bitter gourd ....

Oh.... there you are.... ready to shower your wishes on winners and almost hand together for round of applause. Wait , we have some confusions …………

With 2 categories we have “TIE” and to choose one from those you can vote in the poll widget on the side bar.

And well, you can start cheering up for The Best Presented Recipe Award.
This goes to Kalai for Bitter gourd Tamarind Masala. I can hear cheerful sounds and clapping now :D

Enjoy the award Kalai.

We will present awards to winners of other 2 category as soon as we finish with poll. Vote them now.

Check out my entries for "click-Au naturel" and "MBP-One pot wonder" here.

VoW-Bitter gourd Round up and Voting starts from now....

Bitter gourd – you love it or you hate it. There is no other options for that. Yeah people like me could be exception who is slowly trying to consume it knowing the enormous benefits it has. Not only to control sugar level , it is very helpful to cure Cancer, Constipation and piles, blood-disorders, respiratory disorders, alcoholism, cholera and Numerous infections.

We have a saying in Gujarati – “Kadva Kaarela na Goon na hoy kadva” meaning Karela tastes bitter but it has many is having many qualities in it. I know back in India sometime mothers used to give Juice of it to child for fever. We never realize those values when we were in India , I am glad that I came to USA that made me aware of what a rich legacy of everything we had. Anything of today’s technology seems dull compared to deep knowledge of those things our people had. May it be counting the distance between starts, or deciding time by the length of shadow. We had people knew these things thousands of years ago even. I know some people who even today guess time by the position of sun on their head while working in farm in day time.

Ayurveda- is another thing which I started exploring very much after I came here. Even up to that extend that I feel like going back to India and do detailed study on that:D.

Well, coming to round up of Bitter gourd recipes , we have 60 great entries to enjoy bitter gourd now. With these entries this - liking and hating things -is also visible. As some choose to skip it this month while some choose to send more than 1 entries for the same. We have 10+ bloggers with more than 1 dish from them including --- Asha – 2, Srivalli - 5 , Mythreyee - 3 , Jayashree - 2 , Kajal – 6 , Meera - 3 ,Sandhya - 2 ,Kalai - 2 , Rina-2 and Trupti-2, Jan- 2. I must say they are all wonderful in cooking bitter gourd in wide range - from pickle to Pulao… :) . Thank you all for sending in your delicious recipes to cook bitter gourd with. It surely is a good chance for people like me to start eating it more and more to try each dish with.

Bitter Gourd as Starter dish

	Kakarakaya Pakoda by srivalli
	Spicy Karela Nuts by srivalli
	Kakarakaya vepudu by srivalli
	Bitter gourd fritters by srivalli
	Garlicky Lemony Bitter Gourd Crisps by Jai&Bee
	Healthy Bitter gourd Fritters by Trupti
	Bitter Gourd fries by Dhvya K
	Pavakka Pakora by Mythreyee
	Sorisa batta kalara bhajja by Shibani

Bitter gourd as Side dish

	Bitter Gourd Crisps by Pravs
	Kakara kaya Gojju ~ Bitter Gourd Medium Sauté by srivalli
	Bitter gourd Stir fry by Divya
	Baked bitter gourd Chips by Sia
	Parikkai thayir pachadi by Jayasree
	Bitter gourd Pickle by Ranjeetha
	Kakarakaya Podi by Deepika
	Kakarakaya Karam by Vijaya
	Pavakka(bitter gourd)Pickle by Mythreyee
	karela crispy lemony fry by Priyanka
	Bitter Gourd Fry by Rama

Bitter Gourd as Main course (Gravy/Curry)

	Karela Masala by Asha
	Karela Stir fry by Asha
	Baked Gutti Kakarakaya (Baked Stuffed Bittergourd)by Hima
	Baby bitter gourd fry by Jayashree
	Bitter Gourd curry by Cham
	Pavakkai Kozhambu by Vineela
	Dheeve Ummen by Nanditha
	Bitter gourd Pitlai by Jayashree
	Bitter Gourd Baskets in Thick Gravy by Lavi
	Simple Karela (Bitter Gourd) Stir-Fry by Jan
	Hagalkai gashi by Archy
	Bitter gourd gojju by Rupa
	Bitter gourd curry by Uma
	Bitter gourd with Lentils by Kajal
	Bitter gourd with Tomato-Onion Gravy by Kajal
	Bitter gourd with Mango(Keri-Karela) by Kajal
	Stuffed Bitter gourd by Kajal
	Stuffed Bitter gourd with onions by Kajal
	Bitter gourd- onion Curry by Kajal
	Karela Masala by Jan
	Uchche Posto Jhuri -- Bitter Gourd fried with Poppy seed paste by Sandeepa
	Karela Ju bhajji by Medhaa
	Bitter Gourd fry with Besan by Sandhya
	Spicy Bitter Gourd curry by Sandhya
	Karela Kanda nu shaak by Meera
	Karela Dhokli nu shaak by Meera
	Bharela karela curry by MS
	Tetor Dal by Me
	Kaaju Karela(cashew &bitter gourd) curry by Me
	Bitter Gourd curry by Bhawana
	Bitter gourd Rasam By Sushma
	Shukto by Bhagyashri
	Bitter gourd fry by Kalai
	Bittergourd tamarind masala by Kalai
	Bitter gourd stir fry by Reena
	Tamatar karela by Reena

Bitter Gourd as Dinner dish/One dish Meal with Bitter Gourd

	Bitter gourd with eggs By Dhivya
	Bitter Gourd peels Thepla by Meera
	Bitter Gourd-Ragi Utappa by Trupti
	Karela Pulao by Mythreyee

Do check it carefully and at the end of that don’t forget to vote for three categories as you did here.

Categories are
Most authentic recipe , Best presented( by picture shown here) and Most creative recipe.

Please mention your votes in separate comment along with the category name( please note that my entries are excluded from this ). Those comments will be moderated for 1 week .The voting time is from today to 23^rd April mid night. It's a good idea to value someone’s effort , so take little time and drop in your vote for your choice of entry .

Keep voting, keep rocking and keep cooking , And if you have some more time, help me with my click-confusion.

Note: As many of you might be knowing by now that Tastes of India is having little trouble showing up feeds of the posts (my last post , appeared just now :(( . ) .Wouldn't it be better to get feeds delivered in your email for that? Just put in your email address in the top of the sidebar to get email updates of My Creative Ideas.Also the same is available on An attempt to spread love by cooking.

So stay tuned and keep rocking gals... hugs to you all.