Good bye 2014 and Welcoming 2015

Happy New Year Wishes to all..

2014 was like a roller coaster for me, actually my year 2014 started in India and i came back home during february with loads of beautiful memories from India. I had many funfilled moments with my Chennai blogger friends and stayed with Kalpana of Life with Spices 's cozy appartment for three days, i still cherish those awesome moments.

When its comes to blogging, i kept my work somehow constantly eventhough i have to go through many difficult moments. However Blogging helped me a lot to forget all those challenging moments, yes life is not that much easy to manage.

I ran two whole month's of blogging marathon with Indian regions and International cuisine as theme for 26days starting with alphabets. Do check Indian Food Odyssey and Around the world to know my adventures.

Also i have some proud moments to share, one fine day i got a mail from a journalist of the famous Indian magazine 'The Hindu' asking about Pondicherry cuisine, obviously i said ok hence my first interview of this year got featured here. Next one appeared here and third one is here as the star of the week.

Not to forget i participated three cooking classes conducted by famous brands here in Paris and had loads of fun learning delicious dishes with some French bloggers.

I have posted 278 posts during this whole year and approaching my 3000th post very much soon.

Without any fail i want to share few of my best recipes i have dished out during this year. Here comes:

Few of my best recipes:

January:
Gooseberry Lemon Rice

February:
Vazhaithandu Paruppu Thogayal

March:
Rose Malai Jamun

April:
Davanagare Benne Dosa

May:
Patterned Chocolate Roll

June:
Strawberry Rolls with cream cheese glaze

July:
Hidden Heart Mocha Cake

August:
Three Layer Chocolate Cake

September:
Belgian Gaufres

October:
No Bake Gajar Halwa, Kesar, Gulab Cheesecake

November:
Pondicherry Plum Cake

December:
Christmas Tree in Brioche

Hope you enjoyed this post and am very thankful to each and everyone for being part of my blogging world, nothing is possible without you all.This post is going to Srivalli's Best of the year 2014.

Bye 2014!!!

100 Yummy Diwali Sweets Recipes - Ebook By Indus Ladies

For the upcoming Diwali on October 26th, 2011, Indusladies is compiling an E-Book called “100 Yummy Diwali SweetRecipes”. We are collecting sweet/dessert recipes from various bloggers to be featured in this E-Book.

This E-book will be made available as a free download to our community's 1.3 Lakh+ members. In addition, they are also be making this E-Book available to our 9000+ Facebook fans and Twitter followers. It's LOTS and LOTS of exposure to those food blogs entering the E-Book!!

We believe this would be a nice way to get the word out about a wonderful blog to the entire membership of IndusLadies!!

Are you a Food Blogger? Or do you have friends who are Food Bloggers? Here's a great news for the Food Bloggers out there who have been blogging  for alteast 1 year now...

Those bloggers interested in submitting a recipe for this E-Book...all you need to do is as follows:

1. Send a link from your blog for a sweet /dessert recipe. It should also include the picture of the sweet/dessert. Your recipe, food picture, recipe URL as well as the entire blog URL will get featured in the E-Book.

2. In return, we need you to do two things:

- Now make a blog post in your blog announcing the E-Book compilation by IndusLadies and the recipe you are sending for this E-Book. That way inviting your co-bloggers interested to send in their contribution by Oct 10th,2011.

Any blogger interested can send their entry to partners@indusladies.com by October 8th.

Am sending my Vermicelli Oats Laddoos, Kaju Katli,Chandrakala & Saffron Paneer Burfi..

The most awaited e-book by Indus ladies are ready to download, am happy to say that my saffron paneer burfi is in this e-book friends, do check and enjoying making sweets for diwali..

North Arcot Serva - A Guest Post for Friendship Chain

Few days back, many of you would have crossed my guest post for Friendship Chain event, a fabulous event started by Anamika of Taste Junction, here comes my turn to share with you all a incredible dish from a fantastic blogger briefly called as CL aka Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry,her space speaks a lot her love for cooking,with her stepwise pictures,none will go wrong to recreate her dishes at home..Its quite a fabulous chance for me to ask her to write a guest post specially for this incredible event, i was really happy for her immediate reply..A very big thanks to Cool Lassi(e) for sharing her regional cuisine with us..

Here comes the wonderful and authentic dish for North Arcot serva as per Cool Lassi(e)'s words..

When Priya asked me to do a guest post for the "Friendship Chain - Spread the Speciality", started by Anamika of Taste Junction, I was immensely happy that she thought of me to carry forth the torch/link of friendship. And I simply couldn't say No. Priya is a blogger that I look up to. Her creativity knows no bounds and her consistency astonishes me. I simply want to be a fly on the wall in her house and observe how she manages time for family, creative cooking,blogging and blog-hopping. I strongly believe that her talent to juggle everything with such ease has earned her a loyal readership from all over the world. Hats off to Priya. And plenty thanks to her for giving me a chance to do a guest post in her super-cool blog.

 While it was very easy to say yes to do a guest post it was equally difficult for me to narrow down to just one traditional recipe. And that too one that Priya hadn't already thought of and blogged about.See my dilemma? I mean, Priya pretty much has covered most of the South Indian "Regional Specialties" with her enormous efforts, a true labor of love if you ask me. So it took me days to decide on a recipe indigenous to the region I hail from. You see, I am from North Arcot Region of TamilNadu, a place well known for its unique dishes, like Makkan Peda, Arcot Biryani,  Kuska Biryani, Arcot Serva to name a few. All of these dishes are tongue ticklers. Being raised a vegetarian, I can't vouch for the Arcot Meat Biryani as I never had the opportunity or inclination to taste it while growing up. But now, after having converted to an occasional meat eater, I wonder what's so special about the much-hyped biryani. But I have a feeling that all Biryani lovers would have a Biryani Blast!

Anyways, today's featured menu is North Arcot Serva which tastes best with Kuska Biryani  or Arcot Meat Biryani. It equally tastes good with any Vegetable Pulav of choice.

Ingredients (for 6-8people)
16#s Medium Purple Eggplants
2 Medium Yellow Onion, finely chopped
3 Medium Ripe Tomatoes, finely chopped
2 Stalk Curry Leaves, finely chopped
1-1/2 Tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
1 Tbsp Whole Black Peppercorns
2 Tbsp Coriander Powder
1/2 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder
5-6 Green Chili, vertically slit with crown intact
Chili Powder, as/if needed
Salt, as needed
Golf Ball sized Tamarind, de-seeded and soaked in hot water for 15 minutes
3 Tbsp + 2 Tsp Canola Oil
2 Tbsp Black Sesame seeds (Optional)
2 Tbsp Peanuts (Optional)

For Masala Paste:
1 Tsp fine Pepper powder
1 Tsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Canola Oil

For Tempering:
2 Red Chili
2 Green Chili
1 Stalk Curry Leaf
1/2 Tsp Mustard
1 Tsp Canola Oil

Procedure:
Add all the ingredients under "Masala Paste" in a small shallow plate. Combine the ingredients until a paste is formed. Quarter the eggplants with the crown intact.Smear a little paste on the insides of the quartered eggplants. Gently fry them in 2 Tsp of Canola Oil until they are browned on all sides. Move them to a plate.

In the same pan, heat 3 Tbsp of oil and add the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and whole peppercorns. Fry them on medium flame for a minute or so.

Add the coriander powder, turmeric powder,green chilies along with ginger-garlic paste and fry them for a minute or so.

Add the finely chopped onions and saute till they are translucent. Follow up with chopped tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Add little water and lid the pan. Cook till a gravy forms, approximately for 4-5 minutes.

Add the browned eggplants and cook for 7-8 minutes.

Extract a thick juice from the soaking tamarind pulp and add that to the pan. Add salt and check for taste. Now would be the time to add more chili powder or salt. Lid the pan and cook a further 5-6 minutes. 

Optional Step: Toast the sesame seeds and peanuts. Powder them together and add towards the end of cooking.

For tempering: Warm the Tsp of oil in a small skillet and add the other ingredients under "tempering" to the pan. Once the mustard seeds start sputtering,pour it over the Serva. Serva is now ready to be served with Kuska Biryani, Arcot Biryani or any Pulav with a side-serving of cooling "plain" Yogurt. Yes, plain Yogurt is better since the Serva packs quite a punch.

 Notes:
As with any tangy dish, this side-dish tastes super good the following day.
For a thick smooth gravy, its better to coarsely grind the onions and tomato prior to adding to the pan

Best Recipes I Have Blogged in 2010

Am almost to hit my 1,500 posts soon and its definitely hard to choose coz almost all the recipes i posted here are definitely tasted and approved by my family and by my near relatives..Anyhow i wanted to choose best among the best recipes for sending to Smitha's wonderful event calling Best Recipes I Blogged or Blog about in 2010 for her first blog anniversary...Thanks a ton to Smitha for this unique event,as we food bloggers have to choose our best recipe out of all the recipes we have posted or tasted in 2010..I have choosed my most favourite 3 recipes to send and here comes..

Rosogollar Payesh:

An elegant dessert prepared with rasgullas, a Bengali delicacy..I rarely heard people saying no to Bengali sweets which is quite often prepared by using paneer or milk based..Enjoying this delicious sweet when they were still warm was absolutely marvellous and i never forget how tasty these rosogollar payesh were..

Chicken Kofta Kurma:

If u are a meat lovers that too chicken meat lovers, this kurma is definitely a real feast for u..This delicious kurma goes tremendously as side dish with anything,even with a toasted bread..Its a excellent versatile side dish to enjoy anytime of the day..

Chandrakala:

I prepared this half moon shaped sweets thats y they are called as chandhrakala for a deepavali festival, its quite a famous and a delightful sweets which rarely peoples makes coz these sweets needs loads of time to get ready,with a rich filling usually prepared with khoya and nuts, needless to say how fabulous they were ..These sweets turned out super prefect for me, whenever i saw this click my sweet tooth craves for this delicious sweets..

Hope these best recipes are definitely a real feast to ur eyes friends..

Welcome 2010~~Say Goodbye to 2009

Wishing you a very happy, prosperous,beautiful and wonderful New year friends which brings you all loads of happiness, health and more wealth..

Time flies and this year ran away really very fast, cant believe that we are already going to step in 2010..When i started this blog, i was thinking that i cant stay in blogsphere more than an year, which is completely wrong, yeah i have been here almost about one year and 4 months and with more than 850posts from 30th august 2008..Am really very proud of my culinary adventures also its time to say a big thanks to all my blogger friends and readers who were really kind to send their encouraging words to keep me around in this blogsphere..

Personally 2009 was completely a beautiful and fantastic year in blogworld, yeah got a bunch of great friends with whom had a great virtual time by going through their blogs and commenting all these beautiful virtual tempting treats which was quite my daily routine nowadays, and am completely addict to this blog world..Thanks to my friends for pulling me to enter this blogworld which keep me alive even when i across few storms in our daily life..

This year, i went addict completely to a famous grain called Oats and also tried many beautiful and healthy grains like barley, wholewheat flour, corns,oats etc and as usual tried many eggless, vegan bakes with various combinations and to be honest i truly learned how to bake healthy through this blogworld..Am really proud to say that my hard work doesnt put me down, i won two cookbooks this year and a cash amount through Madhuram's baking events..

Ec of Simple Indian Food was kind enough for showcasing my blog and myself through her beautiful super sunday blogger where she posted my interview here..Needless to say how happy i am..Thanks a lot to EC for doing this tremendous work for featuring both veteran bloggers and new bloggers in her blog on Wednesday and Sunday..

I have guest hosted almost 6 famous events and am hosting rite now another famous AWED event portuguese as theme...Thanks to Sunshinemon, Srivalli,Maheswari,Pallavi,Lakshmi,Sunita & Dk for letting me to host those wonderful events..Yea u can see the roundup FIC-Pink1,FIC-Pink 2,FIC-3,MEC-Savoury Snacks,AFAM-Olives,AFAM-Bellpeppers,Sunday Snacks -Snacks With Bread,RCI-Kongunadu & finally Think Spice-Think Coriander Seeds, these events are went through my blog and currently am hosting AWED..

Here comes few of my recipes which have been most commented,liked and appreciated by both my blogger friends and my family..
The Recipes most appreciated:

Saffron Oats Peda

The Recipe i loved most:
Nippatu

The Recipe i have created & loved it:
Vazhakkai & Oats Kara Poriyal

Side dish many of u loved:
Spicy Garlic & Curryleaves Chutney

Nonvegetarian dish my family loved:
Madurai Style Chicken Kuzhambu

Many of my dishes have been tried and tasted by my blogger friends and readers, i really appreciated them for trying my recipes and leaving me their appreciations...I need all ur supports and encouraging words along the coming next years and i know that my friends will be there for me to give their supports in future..

Once again wishing you all a Fantastic and Excellent 2010!!!!! Am sending this post to Srivalli's Best Of Year 2009..

Home-made Pav & Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji and pav, most famous mumbailites food...Pav and pav bhaji is a fast food dish native to Maharashtrians and is very popular nowadays in most metropolitan areas in India..Pav bhaji is a curry prepared basically with veggies and which is highly rich in carbohydrates while pav bread is prepared with all purpose flour and yeast which served along with pav bhaji..The origin of both these dish is traced from the textile mills in Mumbai..the mill workers used to have lunch breaks to short for a full meal and a light lunch was preferred by the emplyees for a heavy work..A vendor created this dish using pav, but roti or rice was replaced with pav, while the curry with pav bhaji, this reminds the food of mill workers and with time this dish found its place into restaurents and spread all over Mumbai, now u can find this dish many indian fast food restaurants in Asia..These pav bhaji and pav can be consumed as a snack, between lunch and dinner but nowadays this pav and pav bhaji are being consumed as a light evening meal and also as party dish..I have prepared home made pav bread and pav bhaji for our yesterday dinner and both together turns out prefect and we enjoyed having this mumbai delicacy and am sending this dishes together to RCI-Mumbai guest hosted by Lakshmi, event by Lakshmi and to EC's WYF-Speciality Food..

Pav:

1cup Maida flour

2cups Bread flour

1tsp Active dry yeast

1tsp Sugar

1tsp Salt

1cup Luke Warm water

3tbsp Oil

Few drops of milk

Add the yeast, sugar and salt to the luke warm water, give a stir and let them sit aside for 5minutes until the yeast turns foamy..Take the flours in a large bowl and add the foaming yeast water and oil together to the flour and knead everything as soft dough, arrange the dough in a large greased bowl and keep in a warm place upto 2hours until the dough doubled their volume..

After an hour, punch down the doubled dough and knead again, make 6-8medium sized balls from the dough and arrange one by one in a greased mould and let them side again for an hour in a warm place...After an hour; preheat the oven to 350F..brush the breads with milk and bake in middle rack for 15-20minutes until a golden brown crust forms over the bread...Put off the oven and take off the mould and let them cool.

Pav Bhaji:

3cups Cooked and mashed potatoes

2nos Onions

2nos Tomatoes

1/2cup Carrot (grated)

1/2cup Green peas

1/2cup Cauliflower (shreded)

1/4cup Bellpepper pieces

1/2cup Cabbage(shreded)

1tsp Ginger garlic paste

1/4tsp Green chilly paste

1tsp Red chilli powder

2tsp Pav bhaji masala

1/2tsp Coriander powder

1/2tsp Cumin powder

2tbsp Coriander leaves

Salt

Oil

Butter

Heat enough oil and fry the ginger garlic paste and green chilly paste until they turns slightly brown, add the chopped onions and saute till transculent, add immediately the tomatoes, salt and cooking until the tomatoes turns mushy..

Now add the grated carrots, shredded cabbage, shredded cauliflower, green peas, bellpeppers pieces and saute for a while, once they are half cooked, add the mashes potatoes, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, pav bhaji masala to the cooking veggies, stir everything well and cook until the oil comes out, cook everything minutes in simmer..

Add a cup of water to the veggies and cook everything until the bhaji turns thick..Put off the stove, garnish with raw onions & coriander leaves and toasted Pav..

To Serve:

Heat a tsp of butter in a hot pan, cut the pav as two pieces and toast the pav with the hot butter, serve along with onion and coriander leaves garnished pav bhaji..

Enjoy!!!!!!

Announcing AFAM-Olives

First of all i have to say Big Thanks to Maheswari of Beyond The Usual for giving me this opportunity to host AFAM (A Fruit A Month)..After googling i came to know that any vegetables which have seeds are literally fruits n i went through the list of AFAM already hosted by various fellow bloggers, none used Olives for their AFAM..

Olive is a fruit of Olivier Tree which has been used in gastronomy of many countries...Spain has become the world's largest producer of olives and olive oil..Olives are a favored treat of Mexicans too.. Green n black olives are used everywhere in World in appertif, salads, pizzas, breads etc.. Olive oil also used for seasoning the salads also for cooking...

(photo by fotosearch.com)
Here comes wat u need to do for:

1)1. Prepare any recipe using Green/Black Olives or Olive oil as its main ingredient and post about it on your blog by 30th April, 2009

2)Multiple entries are most welcome. You can also send from archives, it should be properly updated and reposted.Posts should be linked back to this announcement post and Maheswari's Blog.

3)Send the following details to Priyasuresh09@gmail.com with thr AFAM: Olives as its subject line:

Your Name
Blog name
Recipe Name:
Recipe Url:
A photo of 300pixels (width)
4)The use of logo is optional, but if you use the logo it will be so nice of u guys!

5)If you are a non blogger, dont worry..you can send me ur entries through mail with above details and a picture of ur recipe, i will surely post them in roundup..

Gals!! Send me all ur creative, delicious n fabulous recipes to my mail address before the deadline.. Am eagerly waiting to see all ur recipes n hope this AFAM will be surely a big hit!!!!

Okra Tomato Gravy N Click-Wood

My Mom used to prepare once a week this delicious gravy with okra n tomatoes (pureed) with gingelly oil , this gravy will ressembles quite like Peppercorns n Cuminseed gravy well know as Milagu Jeerage Kuzhambu..This gravy stays for a week n they will tastes divine after a day..after few more days, no need to say how they will taste, usually we finish this gravy with three days as we love this delicious tangy gravy like anything..this kuzhambu tastes too good with hot steaming rice n papads, for non vegetarian people boiled eggs goes prefect for this gravy r simply with an omelette,i dedicate this delicious tomato gravy with okra to my brother, who is die hard fan of this delicious gravy.

10nos Okra(cut as big pieces)
1cup Tamarind extract
2nos Tomatoes(pureed)
5nos Shallots
3nos Garlic Cloves
1tsp Pepper powder
1tsp Coriander powder
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
1/4tsp Cumin seed powder
1/4cup Gingelly oil
1tsp Mustard seeds+Fenugreek seeds+Urad dal
5nos Curry leaves
Salt

Heat the gingelly oil in a kadai, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, uraddal n let them splutters..add the whole shallots,curry leaves, garlic cloves n stir fry until the shallots turns transculent, add the okra pieces n stir for few minutes, add the tamarind juice, pureed tomatoes with pepper powder, cumin seed powder, coriander powder, red chill powder with enough salt.. bring the gravy to boil n cook until the oil gets separated..put off the stove..

Serve hot with rice n papads!!


Click -Wood:

This Bamboo Steamer is my entry for Click-Wood by Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi

My Entries for Magnificient Click Contest

All these clicks goes to Magnificient Click Contest event by Gayathri of Just Urs!!!!

Mango Lassi

Eggless Apricot N Orange Muffins

Microwave Aloo Paneer Masala

Tomato Barley Soup

Mango N Cream Jelly

Eggless Tiramisu

Vegan Chilled Avocado Soup

Butterfly Shrimps

Few weeks back, i have joined BloggerAid, u might have heard about this na... This Wonderful group is publishing a book with the recipes prepared by the foodie bloggers around the world.. This is a excellent gesture againt the hunger, the profit from the sales of the cookbook will be directed to School Meals, a programme of The World Food Programme(WFP), United Nations frontline agency......My contribution to this wonderful cause is this Crispy Butterfly Shrimps..

This is quite an appetizier, easy also delicious one.. i want to send this delicious butterfly shrimps coz they need really few ingredients which u may find out very easily if u lives in any part of the world, but i can't write the recipe, until the cook book is out...Am very much excited n really looking forward to the book, with loads of tempting n droolworthy dishes from Worldwide...

Wat u need to do:
You don't need to be a member of Blogger Aid to submit a recipe. You just need a willingness to share your love of food from around the world and want to be involved in raising awareness and money for this program. There is no cost to you ,just a sense of satisfaction that comes from participating in this exciting project and seeing your name and recipe in print.


You may post about your recipe but without revealing the ingredients... the cookbook will be the round-up where your recipe will be published. Once the cookbook has been published you can publish your recipe wherever you like...it will always be yours and you will always receive full credit.

For more details check here...

Lets join the hands for a wonderful cause...

Rose Syrup Jello - Click Red

Jellies r always my fav desserts...Nothing will beat homemade jellies na!!!..i just want to prepare something red for this month Click - Red event by Jai N Bee of Jugalbandi..i thought making something with rose syrup as jelly which may suits prefectly the event n prepared this easy jelly at home...i used agar agar powder instead of gelatin powder n needless to say they tastes wonder with rose flavour...

2tbsp Rose syrup
1tbsp Agar Agar powder
1cup water
2tsp Sugar
(Few drops) Rose water

Bring boil sugar n agar agar powder n keep in simmer until the sugar n agar agar powder get dissolved...put off the stove, add the rose syrup n rose water n stir again well...pour the rose syrup in  ice cubes tray n arrange them in fridge for atleast 2 hours..

Scoop out the jelly n serve them!!!!!