"VoW- Brinjals " Mediterranean Eggplant Soup

Were you wondering where did I disappeared saying that "tomorrow " I am going to post Soup with eggplant ? Well ,you better know as the title of that book of Sidney sheldon - "If Tomorrow comes" I must be posting that ;) , Tomorrow never comes, I waited for it but it was named "today" when it arrived :D. Well, too much to excuse my busy schedule . But let me share a truth that is I am a great fan of that book and so of Sidney Sheldon too . Although I don't like all of his books as much as I love "If Tomorrow comes" . When he passed away last year I was so sad to know that now there will be no tomorrow when I will be eagerly waiting for his soon to be published novel :( .
Well a crazy side of me is if I really like some book - I read it again and again, and still I think I would like to read it few more times :)) . There are some which I really love like anything . Two of them are "If tomorrow comes" and "The Alchemist" . Paulo also depressed me little , as after that book I didn't fine any of his other book as good as "The alchemist" , still I keep on reading all his books (and of others too )one by one hoping that someday I will get a Gem like "The Alchemist" :)) .
You might think its ok if I like some book , but why to read it again and again infinite times , well D has the same question earlier. He read a lot too , a much more than I do , But not crazy like me to read that again and again as if I have to appear in exam for that book :)) . Poor D now he is not questioning me for that , he knows how weird I am sometimes ;) .Well I think I miss I am missing something to write here, what was that ? yeah this is my food blog and I was about to post a soup recipe here :) . A chatter box I am sometimes . Did I ever tell you that I still talk to D sometimes for hours and hours non-stop :)) , and so sweet of him to listen to me interestingly for all those hours and bear me for all the things I wish to share with him , no matter how small the matter is .

Well ,now I think before I miss the date to post this for my own event :r , let me first share this to you .

Mediterranean eggplant soup , I come to know this recipe about a month back or so , and thought to give it a try , as the ingredients of it sound very interesting to me , and what can be better chance for this than VoW for me :). I have modified recipe a little to make the it according to my taste . You can try it anyway you like.

Ingredients :

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion chopped( I used Spring onion without leaves)
2 cloves garlic pressed or minced
1/2 cup celery stalks finely diced(I used Coriander instead as I just love it better than celery )
4 cups water
1 cup eggplant cut into 1/2 inch dice( I used tender medium sized brinjals, you can use any variety of it )
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes)
2 teaspoons Italian herb mix(Mixture of dried basil, thyme, marjoram and oregano, together with some sage, garlic and rosemary)
1/2 cup raw pasta any type you like
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method:





Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the chopped onion, garlic and celery and saute over medium heat until the onion is golden. Add water, eggplant and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer then simmer gently covered until the eggplant is tender. About 20to 30 minutes on slow to medium heat. In the meantime cook the pasta separately until it is little soft. Drain and stir into the soup along with the chopped coriander. Adjust the consistency with more water if the soup has gotten too thick. Mix it with Italian herbs mix . Simmer over very low heat another 10 minutes , season with salt and pepper.

Serve piping hot accompanied by any kind of bread/ toast you like.

Final verdict : The slower you cook this , the better it tastes. If you are not much conscious about the quantity of oil in your dish then use little bit more , it enhances taste. This is not a Miracle dish which will make you fall in love with it even if you don't like eggplant. But yeah if you like eggplant like I do then "bas naam recipe hi kaafi hai " :~ . I love this soup for its natural color and all healthy ingredients , and I love having lot of Coriander in any dish, the aroma of the soup when cooking was enough to make me feel hungry ;) .

Also i love trying different versions of dishes you never know which one you will find like a Gem in your kitchen , you will get a Gem if you think of trying it , without trying it nothing to lose nothing to gain .Believe me there is nothing to lose in trying this soup for a non eggplant lover too.

Few more dishes with Eggplant is coming tomorrow on 15th March :p . If you are not a eggplant lover please don't go mad on me :y and if you are eggplant lover just stay tuned :).....

The round up will be published on Monday you still have today and tomorrow left to send entry for VoW-Brinjals :) , Bring it on buddies.

"VoW -Brinjal" ,2 quick curries with Lovely Eggplant and Brinjals

Brinjal- Its a only veggie which comes in different variety , sizes , color and tastes. I like it for that. though if I try being more true then I must say I love it coz in any form it cooks too quickly and the final dish of it always results in one delicious taste. This Rich with Fiber , iron and manganese vegetable has many benefits of consuming it directly or indirectly .

"Its fiber content is high, which helps our digestive process and also acts against coronary heart disease. Eggplants not only feature a number of vitamins, proteins and minerals but also contain important phytonutrients. These phytonutrients are known to act as antioxidant. In phytonutrients found in eggplants, there are phenolic compounds, such as caffeic and chlorogenic acid, and flavonoids, like nasunin. Potassium in eggplants brings a balance in salt intake and maintains a nice level of hydration. It also plays a role in regulating blood pressure. Eggplants also contain folate, magnesium and niacin as well as copper, manganese and thiamine (vitamin B1). " Check out more here and here . I am sure checking its benefits will make you eat it , even if you didn't like it till now :) , so please have a look at them and do a favor to yourself and health :k.

Ringan methi nu Shaak(Chinese eggplant with fenugreek curry) is a traditional curry of our Gujarati home . It goes nice with Rotla specially in winter days, although it has a versatile taste which can go along very well with any Paratha , Roti , Puri or Chapati . Needless to say this dish creates a magical taste when combining with the fresh fenugreek and garlic. I loved this shaak even when as a child I refused to eat any other curry with brinjal/eggplant.
Here is the simple Recipe to make it .

Ingredients:
3-4 chinese eggplant
1 bunch of fresh fenugreek (Methi) leaves (almost 1/5 cups when chopped ) ,
2-3 garlic cloves minced finely or chopped lengthwise.
2 tsp oil ,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
1 tsp cumin seeds,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder ,
1 tsp red chilie powder ,
a pinch of asafoetida powder ,
salt to taste .

Method:
Wash and cut the eggplant in about 1 cm long cubes like pieces, keep them in a vessel filled with water until you add it to curry , otherwise it will start changing its color to brown . Pluck methi leaves and wash them throughly , then roughly chop them .
In a pan or Kadhai heat 2 tsp oil, when little hot add mustard seeds to it, when they start spluttering add cumin seeds, minced garlic and asafoetida powder to it , immediately after that add drained eggplant cubes. Mix well and let it cook on medium heat until eggplant is half cooked.
Chinese eggplant among all other varieties of eggplant takes least time to cook , for this it should be somewhere between 2 to 3 minutes to get it half cooked.










Next add cut fenugreek leaves and turmeric powder to it , mix all well and let them cook for few more minute until you can check the aroma of cooked fenugreek. Chopped fenugreek will leave some liquid ,which should be cooked till all of it evaporates. check the eggplant piece by its softness to see if they are totally cooked . Finally add red chilie powder and salt , mix it well cook for another minute and turn of the heat.
Serve hot with anything you like . Serve hot with Roti, Paratha or Thepla .
It normally takes around 10 minutes to cook this aromatic curry of eggplant and Fenugreek. Don't miss using Garlic to it, its the heart of wholesome taste of this dish.

A slight variation to this dish I tried sometimes when I find the brinjals little stiff .
Stiff brinjals normally taste little bitter, to remove its bitterness I make it using fairly nice amount of coriander leaves to it.

A quick baingan is the dish which I normally make using only brinjals, and then I garnish with coriander .
I make the same dish little different way when I am little skeptical about brinjal being bitter in taste .

To make for 2 people

Ingredients :
5-6 Brinjals, cut into cubes.
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves.
1/2 tsp each mustard seeds , cumin seeds , red chilie powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
salt to taste ,
1-2 tsp oil .

Method:
Use nonstick flat bottomed pan to cook it fast.
In a pan take oil I use around 1.5 tsp oil. while cooking initially it will seems little less , but as brinjal will be cooked they shrink in size and that will be sufficient to cook it all . You can choose to use it as per your taste little more or less.
When oil is hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds to it, add turmeric powder and immediately add brinjal cubes to it.










Mix it all well ,and let it cook for a while till brinjal turns soft . Then add chopped coriander leaves to it. Initially it seems too much of coriander leaves , but as it will start mixing to brinjal it will shrink to 1/4 then its original size , and you will see too less of it . This is what gives this dish a nice taste and turns bitterness of brinjal into a nice taste when combining with coriander. Turn off the hear after cooking together for a minute . Serve hot with hot Roti . I like it accompanied with curd/yogurt.
Normally it happens that if you find brinjals having little hard seeds or seeds of brown/black colored , it tastes not such good. So this is how this another dish is discovered to make them tastier when I don't think that the simple brinjal will make a good curry for me.
If you have good quality of brinjals , go ahead and try this without adding coriander to it, you will love it that way too :L.
I tried it once and then i liked it so much that way , that i made it many times again since then , even when brinjal were soft and not having any bitterness in it :D , believe me it is the Quickest curry I ever know :z, so I like it even more ;) .

A soup with Eggplant is coming tomorrow :~ .
Would you like to join in the celebration of Brinjals with me ??? Stay tuned to check more of eggplant on this week from me , and if you have any dish with 'brinjal /eggplant' send it to me before 15th March and be a part of "VoW-Brinjal" :) .
To check more details about "Vegetable of the Week "click on the logo in the side bar .

Beguni- A Guest Post.

Swati is a wonderful cake maker.Just as lovely Anamika , she also has a blog to show case her art of cake making. As she doesn't blog about Recipes she sent me her entry for VoW -Brinjal this month- along with the picture. She prepared Beguni using Brinjal . Beguni is Bengali dish ,which resembles to pakoda .

Here is the Recipe in her own words.

Ingredients
Brinjal 1
Garlic 1 pod crushed
Gram Flour/Besan 4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Red chilly pdr to your taste
Turmeric a pinch
Oil to fry

Method

Cut the brinjal in thin slices.
Make the besan batter by mixing besan, chilli powder, salt, turmeric,
crushed garlic and water to get a batter which is like pakodi
consistency..Not too thick and not too watery. Beat well as then you
dont need to add soda which absorbs a lot of oil while frying.

Fry the brinjals coated in the prepared besan batter in hot oil . The
oil should not be too hot to burn the brinjal immediately as we need
to cook the brinjals also.
Sit back and enjoy the fried brinjals ...It goes well with khichadi
also..I like to eat them just like this when fried hot.

Thanks you Swati , that's a lovely snack/starter we have now with Brinjals :) .

Note: This blog is open to all non-bloggers . If you have some recipe to share/Participate here with, you can send it to me directly on blogpooja@gmail.com and be a guest writer for this blog.

Gujarati -That's what I am :)

A Gujarati, native in rich cultured Saurashtra region, bought up and schooling in Capital of Gujarat , studied engineering in yet another part of Gujarat and did jobs in 3 such places where earlier I was never been.

Though I was not much keen about knowing/discovering the history and culture of different parts of Gujarat at that time , Life just passed such a way that I interacted with many different people from each part of Gujarat. These things made me aware of the rich history and culture of Gujaraties (“Gujarati loko” as we call :) - loko means people in Gujarati language), different yet always the same kind of neat and well managed life style they have.

With their hearts always ready to give a warm welcome to guests and supporting for any new people in the area. I can see the same hospitality in Gujarati people here too, and perhaps this are what we Gujaraties inherited from our Land :z .

Today when I think about my past I feel even more proud of the life I spent there . Especially the support I got from the people from the places where I had never been before, and where I was not even intending to stay for a long. Knowing all these things if someone is still helping you, I just understand that, that is some unconditional help and favor they are doing to you, without expecting anything in return. And when you are a part of such juncture, definitely you can say humanity is not finished yet ( Manavata haji mari parvari nathi , as we say in our Gujarati :) ) .

It’s the place where ,

when you meet someone for the first time they welcome you as if they have been waiting for you - just as a long lost dear friend,
where the hospitality of the hosts make you eat almost double than you can :D
and where even a simplest single meal is not complete without buttermilk – “Chhash “ ,Understand that you are somewhere in Gujarat :) .

We celebrate many lovely festival , be it Navarti with Garba and Dandiya or New year day following Diwali day or Kite festival on 14th of Jan. every year :~...

Now when it comes to Gujarati meal , My dil go sooooonnnn...... :O ,…. Ahhh let me decide where to start from :d ………..
As you all know , Khaman , Dhokla , Handavo, khandavi , khichdi – kadhi , Undhiyu,Muthia,
Patra etc...are very close part of Gujarati kitchen and now much liked by people of other regions too :L .

Not only that , we have a large variety of main course , side dishes, pickles , snacks and dinner items, some of which is very specific to the season - like in winter Bajri na rotla ne ringana no olo or methi ringan nu shak ne bhakhari .

Be it Puri , rotli (fulka roti ), thepla, Bhakhari or Rotla we have different veriety in those too.

For example if you talk about thepla, we have Dudhi na thepla (lauki thepla) , methi na thepla ( fenugreek thepla) , Masala thepla, Lasaniya thepla(garlic thepla) etc…

And not to forget a large array of sweets – churma na ladu , shiro, mohan thal , magaj , penda , lapsi , dudh paak , dudh pauaa, bundi ladoo , and many more I think.

Here is a traditional dish I would like to share with you today .
That is Ringana na olo .(Roasted Eggplant Subji )

This traditional shaak is famous since a long time where there were no gas stoves available , and the best taste of it you get when you roast it using chulha, where it gets the opportunity to cook really well from all the side with real falmes of wood.
You will this find this as a Gujarati version of baingan ka bhartha.
The main difference being that it don’t take any other veggies like tomato or onion for making this.

Basically a much more spicier and oily version of this shaak , has now turned into a little mild and less oily version to suit our much idle life of today . This during the winter days specially is the food you can find in kitchen of each farmer families, those were the days where agriculture were the only main source of income for people, their life was so busy , active with different activities in farm and home stuffs ,where one don’t need to worry on how to loose pounds of weight, instead it was necessary to eat sufficient source of all kind of food to keep one more lively and active .

Now as my clock is reminding me that I have last one hour left to post and send this entry I better hurry and share the recipe of it to you all…

Ingredients :
Big eggplant
2 tsp garlic minced with 1 tsp red chili powder ,
2-3 green chilies ,
2 tsp oil ,
Salt to taste , coriander leaves to garnish .

Method :
Choose not too hard eggplant , from the veriety of largest possible size of it .
Using knife just make little slits on its skin and roast it on flame from all sides ,
Untill you can see its skin easily getting saparated from the inner part.
Roast it whole until too tender .

Keep it on a large dish or aluminium foil and let it cool for a while, then carefully remove all the back skin from it and then on a chopper board cut it length wise and then cut it from width ,such than it will make small piece of it , which actually u can see as the smallest part it. Keep in mind that you roast it such that it will not be like piece at this stage just a soft little bite you can say .

Next in a kadai heat the oil , when it is warm add the minced garlic with red chili and then chopped green chili . Add the cut eggplant and salt , stir will ,mix every thing and cook for just a min or two.
Turn off the heat and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

This makes a perfect desi gujarati thali when served with bajri(pearl millet) na rotla with fresh home made butter on it and gol(jaggery) In winter days makes perfect warm meal that is good and warm for body too.





Since I am not that perfect with making Rotla I would recommend you to check this for step by step process of how to make perfect bajri no rotlo .

This goes straight to Mythili of Vindu for RCI-Gujarat. I just realized that today is the last date , and don’t wanted to miss this opportunity to share this and many lovely things of a Gujarati .Thank you Mythili for chossing Gujarti cuisine for this month it was wonderful participating with this my all time favorite dish , and may be its favorite of all Gujaraties :) .


I think I can write and share much more about the region –Gujarat , may be some other time , its already 11.55 pm :f , today is fight with time just 5 mins left now :D , also not to bore you much today ;). A very good morning to you if you are reading this in early morning and have a nice day ahead :) .

"Vegetable of the Week" with some Revised rules

Vegetable of the week has always been very close part of this blog and so of me.

In past I started this, to show case all the different dishes I make with the same vegetable, and invited others to be a part of this making it a weekly event. I used to select a new veggie each week and was posting a recipe daily with the chosen veggie along with entries from others, daily posting and daily round up has been like a routine for me also it was a lot of fun knowing many dishes with the same vegetable. Started with the whole intention to make different verity from a single main ingredient has always a good motivation for me to run this blog and event.

Now as time permits me , I am starting this “Vegetable of the week “ again with little bit modifications to its “used to be” rules and schedule :) .

With so many confusions in my mind to modify the original rules/duration of the event , along with that, as from many old buddies and well wishers suggested it , I have changed this to a monthly event , though the name I find so much loved by me that I am not changing it hence it will continue to be known as “Vegetable of the Week “ only, now the fact is we will celebrate it for 4 weeks (i.e. – a month ) .

Here are the rules to be a part of this resourceful event , I make it little flexible by not restricting current posts, and make this event fun for all- to be a part of it.

Rules :

1. Cook any Vegetarian dish having “Vegetable of the Week “as main ingredient. You can also send already posted recipe, provided it should be linked to this event before you send it as an entry. You can send as many entries as you want.
   

2. Send your entries for :Vegetable of the Week -Bottel Gourd on or before 17th july 15^th July 2008 to blogpooja@gmail.com , Along with clearly mentioning

· Your name,

· Your blog name & URL,

· Name of the dish you made ,( don’t forget to mention the name of the dish you made. It happens many times that your post title is not indicating your dish name and hard to find from write up, So just be clear about what you are sending. )

· URL of your entry

Along with picture of the dish you cook - if possible resized in 300 pixel width .

In the subject line mention with the chosen vegetable and the type of dish you made. i.e, - if you make a soup using Brinjal the subject line should be “VoW -Brinjal – starter “.

3. Follow all the rules as indicated here to make it easy for event holder at the time of round up. Be a nice participant :) ,I no longer intend to accept entries who didn’t mention their entry as link back to this "VoW" Post. If possible use the logo too (it takes time and effort when created :f :O)
   
4. If you are a non -blogger send me recipe along with picture , I will post it here as a guest post by your name and include it in round up with your name.

If you don’t get my reply or comment within 2 days of sending your entry, Leave a comment as reminder, lately some of your emails happen to delivered in the bulk mail folder and I was not aware of it since some of your inquired about it.

I intend to publish Round up category wise with categories like, starter, main course, side dish , dessert , breakfast, snacks etc….

For this month we will be celebrating “Vegetable Of the Week - Bottle Gourd “ .

Here is the logo for it . Use it in your entry post if you can along with a link back to this post .

Do remember

• This is your event, do it for delight. Participate if you can, send already posted recipe if you have any, or in future if you manage to cook up anything with that send me along mentioning it, I will keep it as update note in the round up section with the date you submit it.
• The idea behind this event is to share and to know the verity of authentic and creative dishes we all make with chosen vegetable.
• Along with that, I will always be happy to hear from you to choose any particular veggie you like for any particular month, you know I do care for your ideas , :) .

For any questions or suggestion get back to me at blogpooja@gmail.com , and have a nice time cooking many dishes to serve your love to all.

Btw , Have you tasted “Pineapple Lemonade “ yet ?

Theme of the Week - Valentine's Day(2008) Round up

Lets first give a warm welcome to ,
Anu sriram , Alpa, Apu , Bhags, Chris, Deeba, Divya A,Divya K, Divya P (all 3 Divya(s) :D ) , Easy Crafts, Mansi , Home cooked, Lavanya raj, Miri , Namratha , Richa, Sig, Srivalli, Sandhya and Uma for participating for the first time with their entries on this blog. Thanks for all being a part of this blog and making it even richer with your lovely entries :).

(Click on this collage to see a larger image of it )

Here are the entries in alphabetical order by the sender's name :

1. Alpa - lychee pomogranate Martini ,
2. Anamika- Two tier Cupid cake
   
3. Anu shriram - Strawberry orange cookies
   
4. Anuzi - chocolate founde with fruits
   
5. Apu-Rose colored kalakand
   
6. Archy- Rose falooda
7. Asha - Heart shaped Sukhadi
   
8. Bee & Jai - Pouches of Potato Love
9. Bhags-Hash Browns
10. Cham -Brownie whipped with raspberry mousse
11. Chris- chocolate cups cakes
12. Deeba- Hearty Almond Shortbread
    
13. Divya A- Cinnabun roses
14. Divya K- Beans cutlets
15. Divya P-Lemony hearts
16. Easy Crafts- Whole mung cutlets
17. Home cooked - Valentine cookies
18. Kajal- Red chilli chutney and Raita Marcha
19. Kalai-Pomogrante Rice
    
20. Kaykat- Chocolate Mousse Tartlets with Greek yogurt
21. Lavanya-Carrot halwa
22. Maheshwari -Rava ladoo
    
23. Mansi- Liquer infused Heart shapaed Chocolate cake
    
24. Meera -Bhelpuri
    
25. Miri -French Vanilla Cake with Chocolate ganache
26. Mishmash -China grasspudding with praline toppings
27. Nags - Heart shaped shortbread cookies
28. Namratha -Lemon Tea Cakes with Lemon Satin Icing
29. Nanditha- Mung beans and chocolate
30. Pooja -Lemon rice , Strawberry slush, Tomato beans soup and saffron halwa
    
31. Richa - Avocado ,Mint & peas soup.
    
32. Sig - Steamed Asparagus with Star Anise infused Pomegranate Molasses
33. Srivalli - Mung dal halwa
34. Sandhya - Strawberry jelly heart shaped cheese cake
    
35. Uma - Orange gel Pie
36. Vijaya - Beet root burfi
37. Viji- Almond chocolate Brownie
    (As blog of Viji is accessible to members only , you can reach her to viji.jeyakumar@gmail.com and be a member to access a very nice healthy food blog . Here is the recipe for her entry.....
    

    Ingredients:

    All purpose flour ¾ cup ,Coco powder 1/3 cup,Semi-sweet chocolate chips ½ cup
    Baking powder and salt ¼ tsp each,Vanilla sugar ½ tsp,
    Butter 50 gms or ¼ cup (I don’t prefer oil which spoil the taste in cakes)
    Sugar ½ cup,Eggs 2
    Semi sweet chocolate squares 50 gms + 2 tbsp butter for extra flavor
    Slivered almonds ¼ cup,

    Preparation:

    Pre heat the oven to 175oC.Line a 8 inch square pan with foil and grease it well.Mix the first 5 dry ingredients and keep it aside.Melt the chcolate squares with butter in MW high for 1-2 minutes. Let it cool.Beat the sugar,butter and eggs well. Add the melted chocolate to this and mix well.Now fold the dry ingredients to this and mix gently.Spread this in 8 inch square pan and garnish with slivered almonds.Bake it for 35-40 minutes. Don’t over do it.Leave it cool before slicing.The leftovers can be reheated in MW for 30-60 seconds. )
    

Thank you all for your Loving entries with innocent memories and nice write up:) .

We will continue celebrations on this blog with my much loved Vegetable of the week from next week on. Check out its announcement and revised rules on Tuesday, I will be posting that soon.
Till then Have a nice long weekend. Stay tuned .... and think a little bit more about the puzzle , will post that answer soon along with the best given answer from you.

Love me for a Reason, Let the Reason be Love .....

"There`s something about the
look in your eyes. Something I
noticed when the light was just right
It reminded me that I was alive
& it reminded me that you`re so

worth the fight."

A Very Happy Valentine's Day to all of you @}:- .

This Strawberry slush I made for you today to celebrate the love you have shown here , lets share your love together and let it grow even more :). This blog is obliged with your response warm wishes always .

Well , With many nice entries around , I am busy arranging round up , which I hope to publish by tomorrow evening. Today is the last day to send entries, so by any chance ,if you forget to send it to me ,send it soon.

By that time Here is a nice Puzzle for you , just think a little on that, I really hope to get a good answer for this :)

" Why do we close our eyes when we pray, when we cry, when we imagine, when we kiss? " .

I hope to hear some real nice answer from you , if you had any!!!
I know there are many great minds around and great mind thinks a like, Isn't it ? At least you can try to guess the answer :)

Enjoy the day with great spirit , life is too fast to gather some nice memories . See you all you at round up.

My Valentine's Day Entries, with some cute hearts, click click click..... :D

About two weeks ago , while recalling some nice memories of India, suddenly hubby remembered something ,and that brought smile to his face …

He : You know , when we were kids , in summer vacation when we used to travel back from south India to our home, Nani used to pack a lot of food stuffs with us, and along with that without missing one kind of Khatta chawal .
Me : Khatta chawal ??? I never heard of it .
He: It’s a south Indian dish. I like it a lot.
Me: Is that something made up with Lemon…………
He : Yes, it is. It has also lots of peanuts in it , and some more things , I don’t remember it now .But that tastes I still remember….

(Ahhhhhh, here I am- I was thinking, it must be the more seen on blogworld lemon rice ,which usually south Indian bloggers make often ).

Me: I think it is called Lemon rice.
He : Yes, perhaps, and he spoke some name which was a Tamil word for that dish I think.

And then , that day we continued our talk of summer vacations and literally we lost ourselves in the childhood memories of traveling in summer days , visiting cousins and all that masti and everything, The card games we used to play , eating ice Gola in noon times, teasing each others , playing cricket and braking neighbor’s window glass n and then running away and finally for the simplest one from all players is supposed to caught by them to speak all the truth in from of neighbor’s family, and then elders all time ready to scold us ,and then rushing to mom and hide under her pallu, mom being unaware of such things sometimes protects us so well…. both os us spend those days in almost opposite part of India , still memories were so similar... I think childhood is all like that ,no matter in which part of world you spent it. We shared many memories and laughed a lot, also missed those days very much …

Above all these talks, one thing that clicked to my mind that day, is surprising hubby with his favorite dish going to be easier this year. With many blogs around I find a nice recipe for it, and finally made it the way Indira makes : ) . Easy to make and quick too , Surprising Deepak was really easy ;) .

On one evening time , last week , when he was back to home….

Me : I made something special for you , guess what ?
He : Dhokla ?
Me : nope….
He: Pizza ?
Me : not this time ,

( He kept on guessing his much loved dishes which I make sometimes as a surprise to him…. )

Me :(trying to giving him some hint for guessing…. ) why don’t you guess something you like, but I didn’t made before ?
He : (tired of guessing , and eager to see what the surprise is…) Why don’t you tell me then ?
And then I presented on Table the dish filled with lemon rice. Pointless to say he was more than happy to see it.

Did I tell you ever ? He is little more color conscious for the color of the dish . For him there is a perfect color impression of each dish. And for this dish he find the one I made similar to that was in his mind since his days a kid, so that was another reason for me to be happy and for him too : ) My first take for making this was a grand success and so was for him .

Thank you Indira for your perfect recipe, you really made our day . Thank you many other bloggers too ,who posted this on their blog , as I went through many blogs around and that helped me to made my mind about how the dish should be .

Having this dish for the first time in our menu , I was little skeptical about if it will appease our hunger fully or not. So I made this not so light soup to accompany this nice lemony dish.

I named it tomato –beans soup. Yet searching for some nice name , all suggestions are welcome :D.

Ingredients :

1 Cup sprouts, any sprout will taste good, I used Green gram sprouts .
1 cup tomato pulp,
1 tsp black pepper powder,
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for flavor.

Recipe :

Mix in tomato pulp, with 1.5 cup of water and place it on stove , let it boil till it is little thick OR boil it until it reaches the consistency you like , add sprouts and salt in it cook for 2-3 mins, add black pepper powder and washed and chopped coriander leaves. Turn off the heat and serve it hot.

Quick and healthy soup is ready in minutes to serve.
(Note : if no tomato pulp is ready, boil 2-3 the tomatoes , then remove skin and crush it to fine paste .) this goes now to Lisa for her event No croûtons required this month . Thank you Lisa for hosting lovely event.

Along with this ,Kuchh mitha ho jaye…. This was our dessert dish I gave tt a little twist making it with saffron flavored water and without using milk at all .

Here is the recipe for Kesar flavored Suji ka halwa (Kesari suji no shiro) .

Ingredients :
½ cup Semolina (suji ) ,
½ cup sugar ( I used little less ) ,
1 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp ghee
Pinch of saffron treads soaked in 1.5 cup hot water for 1-2 hours.

Method:
Take a flat bottomed pan , heat ghee in it , add Semolina to it , parallely in a vessel heat the saffron flavored water without removing saffron from it.Roast semolina until it spread nice aroma of it and until it is little brown in color.

Now to this add sugar and mix well keep on stirring continuously
Add hot saffron water to it , keep on stirring continuously and stir it until it reach desired thickness for sheera.
Add cardamom powder to it and mix well, turn off the flame.

Serve it hot or cold.I love it when Hot.
To make this suitable to our theme of the week I made it in heart shapes . for that, let it cool and then use mold it in any desired shape. I used cookie cutter for heart shapes. You can cut it into diamond shapes and refrigerate any left over .

All the above goes to Theme of the week –Valentine’s day .

Along with this , these lovely hearts goes to Zorra’s Heart for your Valentine.

Unlike me hubby is a sweet lover , and loved this too. So finally this story of our third Valentine’s day together ended very well , just like a fairy tale :D,no more fights now, we already had enough ;) with many surprises hidden for him .

This two lovely hearts now reaching to Bee and Jai with lots of love for their Click -Flour this month. I hope this is suitable to the theme this month Bee ! :) .

My healthy affair :)) - Sprouted Mung Dosa( Flat bread of sprouted green gram)

Sprout of any beans is always a treat for me,Among all when it comes to Green gram - Mung (or moong) , I am little partial about it .I make different main courses or dal using any of the beans but for sprouted moong .... I can eat it as it even without adding salt, thats my love for it :) .
Since a little time a friend of mine suggested me this dish and ever since this dosa has become our favorite breakfast . Easy to make and tasty too :) . Along with that it has many benefits to eat it. Here is my recipe to share with yo all for this tasty and healthy plus quick dish.

Ingredients :
1 cup sprouted green gram (whole moong) ,
1 inch long ginger piece,
2-3 green chilies,
2-3 spring of fresh coriander leaves ,
salt to taste .
To garnish / serve : Shredded carrot and cheese .
You can choose anything you like to have as toppings. I tried it with red pepper too it tastes as good with that too.

Recipe :
Wash the sprouts and ginger, peel ginger and cut chiilies into half. Take all the ingredient in a mixture /grinder bowl together and add 1/4 cup of water , grind it until it form a smooth paste as shown in picture above.

Place a non stick flat pan(tava ) on heat and take the batter in to a round spoon , spread it on tava when hot, spread it evenly on the surface of tava in a clockwise direction . cook it on medium heat and while half cooked spread little cheese and carrot on it.
I don't use oil to cook it , it turns out easily , so if you like to have less oil in your menu , you can avoid it for this Dosa :) . cook it completely on onside until it is golden brown . Serve it hot as it is . it goes nice with any Raita . You can spice up this dish with spicy tomato chutney too. For me and hubby ,we love it with Plain low fat yogurt . Tastes yummy............!!!
Note : If you need to store the left over batter of this in fridge , I recommend not to store it more than one day, the fresh made tastes far better than that.
Now this dish goes straight to Susan at Legume Love affair and to dear Suganya of tasty palettes for her WBB- Healthy eats :) .Thank you lovely ladies for organizing this , I truly enjoy participating with this colorful dish.
I enjoyed participating with this , and many more yet to come for lovely events going on along with Theme of the week -Valentine's Day. Haven't you surprised your spouse yet ???

Theme of the Week - Valentine's Day

Sometimes we really forget to express how important we are to each other. Days like Valentine's Day are for such reasons so that we spare some time ,think on that and grab opportunity to express our gratitudes to have our beloved person around :) .

Also these are the days when in college times we were full of our romantic thoughts , life is different now, life takes turns as we move ahead with time and responsibilities. But it is always nice to make some day really special.Isn't it ?

Somewhere once I read that " Spend your life such a way , so that when you get old you will have nice memories to cherish about ". Let us try to add one more such memorable day to our life and share here with others.

All the rules are same as it was last year, so kindly refer to here , to know the rules.
Cooking with pink or red color is truly optional, just make something special and worth sharing , along with that if you wish you can add share memories from past too :). Use the following logo in your post and link it back to this theme.


I remember many blog buddies last year shared their different loving , touching ,romantic and worth sharing stories , not only this , I also had a fun time keeping this idea secret from hubby to make his favorite brunch and lunch :)).
I think, I am surely going to have a nice old age with all these good memories around . Don't worry , I will be in touch with you all that time too, to remind you of all these stories and make you laugh too:)). Btw, who believes that they are old, non of us ha ha ha...and remember that the way to man's heart goes through his stomach It's a universal fact ;) .

So be a part of this fun event , share some ideas, recipe and your stories .
Send me your entries by 14th Feb 2008(better if you can do little earlier , but not late than that), along with URL and picture .
Non bloggers can send their entries with the write up and pictures, I will publish it with their name and email ids. Last year we had many non bloggers too were a part of this fun event . and that was really fun to be together ans share some lovely stories.
Lets celebrate our love together.
Reach me on - blogpooja@gmail.com with your entries/queries. And don't forget to link your post with this theme.

(P.S. - I am much better and all good with my health now. Thanks a lot for your concerns and good wishes, this blogosphere is full of lovely friends, thats what I love about it, a big warm hug to all of you there :) )