Click-Confusions : ( !!!

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all natural Oops .. its .... Au netural :( .... NO ..... ahhh........ Au Naturel (from where do they choose name like this :D ).
When Jai and Bee announced it on Jugalbandi for this month I had this in my mind immediately . Can you help me decide which one to send it for Click-Au Naturel this month .

If you wonder - what are these pictures ? Here is the answer .

Please suggest your views, may be that will help me to qualify for the first 25 entries to be voted at least ha ha ha ....
Check out round up of "VoW-Bitter Gourd " here. Don't forget to vote.

I appreciate you patience and love for this blog :) .
Hugs to all of you . Have a good day :) .

Kaaju-Karela Crispy

Ingredients :

3-4 medium sized bitter gourd
½ cup cashew chopped lengthwise
2 medium sized red onion sliced lengthwise
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp oil
Pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste

Method :

Peels the rough part of bitter gourd skin and cut it from middle. Remove seeds and chop it length wise as shown In picture above. Soak it in salty water for half an hour to lessen its bitterness. If you like the bitterness skip this step. Initially when I didn’t loved bitter gourd I used to cook it after soaking for a while, although I skip that now. And still love the taste of final curry the same way.

Peel and chop onions. Mince 3-4 garlic cloves and cut the cashews lengthwise. Keep it all aside .

In a pan heat the oil when hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafetida to it. Immediately add onions, cook it till half cooked, don’t cook it till fully cooked otherwise that will taste bitter till bitter gourd is cooked. Add chopped bitter gourd and turmeric powder to it and mix well. Cook it till bitter gourd turn crispy , finally add minced garlic and chopped cashew to it along with chili powder and salt to it .Mix all together cook it for 2 more mins. Remove from heat.

Serve hot with roti . Tastes best with ripe mango . Although onion is one the of main ingredients of this shaak , I don't know why do they ignored it in naming it. Kaaju Kaarela(cashew with bitter gourd) - that's how they call it. In Gujarat its our one of the most favorite Shaak to enjoy with mangoes in summer season . We normally eat it till the first rain fall .

As a child we use to sing these Gujarati rhyme to welcome the first rainfall.

“Aav re varsad, dhebariyo parsaad, , Uni uni rotli ne Karela nu shaak “ .

(Meaning : Let the rain spread it showers again and again to enjoy the hot chapatis (Roti) with Bitter gourd curry).

This is a simple yet rich dish. My dad’s favorite and for any of our family function this is a must have curry for all of us. A family favorite dish it is .

Here is another way I cut bitter gourd to make the same curry. I normally keep on changing the way I cut vegetables for the same curry, which sometimes is a very good change while cooking it. Change in cooking is all I love about cooking.

Checkout my another entry for VoW-bitter gourd here , which is going to be a part of RCI-Bengal too :) .

You can send you entries with bitter gourd till 15th April midnight. Please follow the rules while sending your entry. That helps a lot to manage it all and round up.

I am already surprised to see many different ways to cook bitter gourd with , and I still don't want to miss anything nice which you can cook with bitter gourd. So don't miss this chance to show up your creativity & sending soon . If time permits I will be back with one more recipe with bitter gourd. Stay tuned and keep rocking with your recipes. Have a Good day ahead :) .

Arusuvai -Mystery revealed.....

Taaaa daaaa………

Mystery revealed ….

Na na … not this soon ….

Let me say first that just like me many of you guessed the same. And needless to say that you were wrong :O . Just like I was . Thank you all , you make me feel better that I am not the only person weak in this guessing games :D.

Here are the answers for Secret Ingredients . They are Dabeli Masala , Takamaria seeds(Sabja seeds) and Meera’s Homemade Indian tea masala.

Now somehow for me it happened to be the first time with all these ingredients… and I never tried or even saw any of these before . But the red masala seemed very much like pau bhaji masala to me. And I guessed all these as Paubhaji masala , Kalonji and Dry ginger powder . As I tried smelling it many times(each time a little nearer that earlier :D ) , I got my nose red and lost my sense of smelling for a day almost following sneezing every half an hour(well, you have all rights to think this as my excuse for guessing it wrong :D ). Well that proved the masala is really something very good and strong. I wrote to Meera with my guessing : ( and to reveal this mystery soon , as I didn’t wanted it to be my nightmare :O (In that case it surely might be the same for hubby too , as I don’t let anyone around me sleep when I am sleepless :D ) . Meera responded quickly and I felt relived. Aaahhhh…. Then only I could enjoy the joy of getting these many nice goodies from her.

Here is my Spiced up Indian tea As arusuvai Part –I , I really don’t know how many parts it will take to try different recipes to make with this lovely spices , but I am sure you will enjoy it :) .

Recipe:

To make 1 cup Indian Chai Take half cup of water in a tea pan ( tea pan is a - special copper bottomed steel pan with cervical handle to make tea specially or you don’t have any other little deep steel vessel ) . When its little hot add suger upto your taste and one spoon of Indian tea ( I use brooke bond red label chai . It normally don’t get much dark color but tastes too good. ) . let the water boil till it gets the nice color of tea and then add half cup ( or your desired quantity of ) of milk to it. Let it boil and when it start boiling slow down the heat add 1/8 tsp of Chai Masala ( and enjoy the fragrance :p ) and after a while turn of the heat , strain tea into a mug and enjoy hot :) . It’s a boon in winter mornings, specially on weekends, take this hot tea in mug , relax a bit and enjoy it with cookies reading newspaper and forget the worries of life and allow yourself to lost in its divine taste :) .

Meera sent me everything ,
spicy masala for cooking ,
something for summer drink
and chai masala for winter mornings :).Thank you dear Meera :)

I have little different idea to use Dabeli masala with, for that still I got to get something from store to try it with . By the time I get that I thought to post this Spiced Indian Chai (Masalawali Bharatiy Chai ) with Meera’s home made tea masala. I am not a regular tea taker, but you surely made me one Meera.

Also if you have any idea to use Takamaria seeds to let me know the recipe to use it , As I have it in fairly good amount and all I know is only how to use it in falooda . Poor me :( . I think hubby gonna have summer earlier this year otherwise: D .

I am extending this Arusuvai friendship chain by passing on some "Secret Ingredietns " to
Vani of Mysoorean and Indira Of Mahanandi .
Vani is a very active young mommy , and she already posted about this .
As the parcel to Indira is on her way still , be ready to check more on Mahanandi in coming days :) .

(P.S. – One of our close relative is visiting India right now, and Mom was asking me if I want some homemade tea masala . As I told Mom that one of my blog friend have sent this, she was happily surprised to hear this . Now when asking for other things she asks me playfully that “ if any of your blog friends has not sent XYZ , do you want it from India ??? “ )

Arusuvai has arrived - Thank you Meera :) .

Meera - A very enthusiastic and highly managed cook of Enjoy Indian food choose me to extend her Arusuvai friendship chain .

The Arusuvai friendship chain is brianchild of Latha and Lakshmi of the Yum blog. This is the friendship chain where you send your surprise ingredient to two or more of your blogger buddies. The friends use the surprise ingredient in their cooking and blog about it. This chain was quite popular in India. and now Latha of Masala Magic started the chain in USA. Thanks to all for this wonderful concept. Thank you Latha & Latha and lakshmi for your wonderful thought :)

Meera sent me 3 secret ingredients and if know me you must be knowing how am I in guessing game :D .
Well not only "Secret Ingredients" she send along with that a lovely card , a big bar of dark chocolate(which I managed to finish withing half hour of arrival ;) ). Even the Green placemate you see in this picture is also her gift for me.
So many things :p .... I was happy as a little child who received many gifts on her birthday :z .


When I got it I smelled that red powder as many times until I started sneezing with the strong flavor of that. And after that too , I was not correct in guessing it :x. Well I didn't expected that too , coz now I have learnt to accept my guessing power limitations :O .

Any guesses you have for what this can be (click on image to see larger view) ? I know the first one is what real challenge is , other 2 are little simpler compared to that. Doesn't matter even if you guess only one of them correct , you are still better than me coz I guessed all of them incorrect :O .

So ladies keep on guessing and I will be back soon with these spices - with some ongoing event's cooking and some bitter gourds too :) .Have a good day ahead, see you all soon.

And the Award Goes to .....

I started the idea of awarding the recipes , because I was feeling that such wonderful creation should not go unnoticed . Also I see so many variation and creativity with cooking, presenting and describing the recipes which basically inspired me for the idea of awarding recipes. Cooking is an art and as just one category was not enough to judge it , I basically choose 3 to have winners with. It was my first experience with voting and awarding , I was little skeptical about the response . But all of you made it success , though some choose to don't vote, I don't know why ? I genuinely hope that from now on you will not forget to vote with the roundup comment section.

Without taking much of your time, Here are the Winners...

The best Presented Recipe

Gattina For Spicy chickpeas in Eggplant Purse

Most Authentic Recipe

Sia for her Badane Ennegai(Stuffed brinjals)

Most creative Recipe

Pooja :$ :$ :$ for Mediterranean Eggplant Soup

Well, for first two categories we didn't had any tough competition ,as the winners got fairly high votes then their competitors . For third category many of your voted for different dishes made by me, and I think, Mediterranean Eggplant soup is the deserving among them. I was reluctant to award myself for this competition, but as the rule says the most voted should be winner
, in future my recipes will be excluded from the competitions, somehow I find it little awkward :D and funny :p too , to award my own recipes. After all I started this award things to spread this word of love for you and your talent so you deserve it the most. Also I never thought you might be liking my recipes to this extend ;) , otherwise I might have thought of making that rule earlier . I am proud to get this place in your heart ,and I will try to keep this blog alive up to your expectations.

Thank you all , and a big round of applause :~ for all the winners including me :D .

Check out rules of VoW-Bittergourd and logo here. The last date for which is 15th April 2008. Send your entries soon ,and make your heart sweet with bitter gourd :) .

Did you check this lovely pink color of my drink :p???

VoW -Brinjal Round Up, An award and Voting begins today for VoW-Brinjal.

Do you remember , when we were in KG classes all students have one common favorite teacher who is most affectionate and little soft hearted towards all kids . I remember , my favorite teacher in kinder garden used to protect me from a naughty boy in a class who was sitting next to me. He used to tease me by telling me that he would eat my lunch box :( . I used to complain about him to teacher and that loving lady was keeping me by her side for the rest of all time in class. I was feeling so protected and pampered by having my favorite teacher around me . Its all about her loving me which made me feel like her even more . Many times I presented her my most favorite chocolate coz I was thinking that's the only thing people on this earth loves the most :O . And she lovingly accepted it all the time , even without giving me the slightest idea that the chocolate is the not something everyone likes the most :p.

Well, not always we are lucky enough to have such nice people around us, but if they are somewhere around , I feel myself lucky and protected too. Asha, is one such lady :k. I can see , everyone loves her the same way and I am not an exception to that. Above that she is a great fan of Eggplant/brinjal and that inspired me to give her something special for with this VoW -Brinjal round up :). I would love to dedicate this round up to her and this little gift is for you lovely Asha.

With this round up of the VoW -Brinjal I would also like to announce some new features which will be a part of all the events from now on .They are Awards - just a token of your achievement , creativity and presentation. All you have to do is to leave vote for your favorite entry from the round up,specifying for which category you are voting.
Comment section will be moderated till the last date of voting . Voting will start from the date of round up to one week after that .(i.e. For this week it will start from today that is 17th march to march 24 . ) Results will be declared in the next week . ) And the winners will be presented a nice logo as a symbol of their creativity in cooking.
The award will be presented in 3 categories, one for each.

1. The most Creative recipe


2. The most Authentic recipe / Traditional recipe


3. The best presented recipe( by picture shown here).
   

You can Start voting for it from now ,Please mention for which category you are voting. Those comments will not be displayed for now till 24th . To display or hide your identity while voting is your choice.

Now , without taking much of your time , the round up is here for you all...

Eggplant as Starter &Soup
	Mirch baingan by Asha
	Eggplant fry by Divya
	Beguni by Swati
	Spicy chickpeas in eggplant "purse" by Gattina ( Not only recipe ,Check it out for her wonderful photography too )
	Brinjal Fry by Mythreyee
	Vaingan Bhajjille by Nanditha
	Eggplant Salad by Swapna
	Mediterranean Eggplant Soup by Pooja

Eggplant as Side dish
	Brinjal Raita by Cham.
	Eggplant cream by Chriesi
	Vankaya Tomato Pachchadi by Suma
	Baba ghanoshu By dhivya K

Eggplant as Main course(Gravy/curry)
	Stuffed Brinjal by Rupa
	Brinjal curry by Divya
	Kathrikai Puli by Jayashree
	Brinjal Gothsu By Vandana
	Gutti Vanakaya koora by Laavanya.
	Brijnal Bhajji by Usha
	Badane ennegai by Sia
	Brinjal curry with peanuts by Dhivya
	Khandeshi Vangyache Bharit by Meera
	Badane Masala by Sushma
	Exquisite eggplant by Uma
	Brinjal Daal by Lavanya
	Bagara Baingan by Trupti
	Ringan Bateka Methi Tuver nu Shaak by MS
	Floating Brinjals by Anu
	Eggplant Potato curry by Kalai
	Kathrikai pitla by Sowmya
	Kathrikai pitla curry by Deepa
	Fried Brinjals by Bhawana
	Brinjal Masala by Rina
	Ringan Methi nu Shaak(eggplant- fenugreek leaves curry) by Pooja
	Chana Baingan curry by Pooja
	Spicy spring onion with eggplant by Pooja
	Quick Baingan with Coriander by Pooja
	Baingan Bhartha(Ringana no olo) by Pooja
	Brinjal coriander leaves curry by Mythreyee
	Grilled eggplant curry by Madhushree
	Eggplant fry by Sudha

Eggplant as Dinner dish/One dish Meal with Eggplant
	Vangi Bhat By archy.
	Katrikaai (brinjal) Rice By EC.
	Eggplant parmigiana By Saswati
	Eggplant parmesan with penne By Ranjeetha
	Sichuan Aubergine By Zlamushka
	Eggplant parmesan By HC
	Eggplant Pizza By Pooja

Next Vegetable of the week is Bitter gourd, last date for which is 15th April 2008. I will post the logo for VoW- Bitter gourd and badges for the winner for " VoW - Brinjal " in a day or two.

Keep on voting ends on 24th march 2008 . Vote for your favorite entry without missing category for which you are voting. Have happy week ahead, will get back to you soon. Till then have a happy time, enjoy the round up , and Bitter gourd lovers be ready to cook something nice again :) .

Update:
Kajal who is famous for her recipes with step by step pics , sent me this pictures few days back , with the idea that I would like to see this and told me that with her busy schedule she cant make it to participate in this month but she remembered to click this wonderful pic for all of us , when she visited a Farm last week and saw this. That's so lovely of you Kajal :) . Thanks a lot for sharing it. (Click on the Image for large view. )