SWC-Meals on Wheels

Thepla, dhokla, khaman, sev tamatar ki sabji (I was awe struck when I learned about this sabji), thin and crisp til chikki, colorful nights of navratri, endless varieties of farsan, eating roti with gur and ghee, delicious juicy mangoes......I can write endlessly about this state of India. It was peaceful living in a quite locality with close knit neighbors who endlessly chatted in the evenings, ladies who went to market together, bargained a bulk price ...over all it was a pleasant stay for 4 years.

Our journey to this state took 2 days and 3 nights. Long tiffin boxes filled with achar and thepla, farsan, khakra (one of my fav), kaju burfis and the aroma which filled the air as soon as they opened their lunch box is still fresh on our minds. On the other hand, during our student days when we traveled towards Bihar, most common food among those who traveled 2 days and 3 nights were dal bhari poori, nimkis, stuffed mirchi achar(a travel companion), sattu ke parathe and aam kuccha. If you have travelled towards North one can see pooris, punjabi achar, parantha and some sweets. I have never traveled down south in trains or else I could have seen plenty of rice eating people :D where tamarind rice could be seen as a life saver which can be kept for at least day and a half.  

Touring India for Indians is not a difficult task and I have concluded it (applies to us). Ever since we started touring East Asia, I started revisiting archived memories of train travel food. Again, experimenting them before I even packed them for our tour was of a great help. Despite all these experiments, I injured my foot a day before and it was a total disaster :(   However, I could make few theplas, mango pickle, chutney powders and we had a travel cooker in which we prepared upma, MTR ready to packets also came to rescue.

Our random travel pictures ..........

Dreamland Beach, Bali, Indonesia

Langkawi's breathtaking ride in cable car and awesome aerial view. Langkawi is a Malaysian Island

Golden reclining Buddha of Bangkok...

Wat Chedi Luang, a 600 yr Old buddha temple at Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

Twin Towers of Kuala Lumpur, Capital of Malaysia

Coming back to the entries of Meals on Wheels, Please help yourselves to your favorite travel food. There 48 entries for this event so, I decided to just provide the link as adding too many pictures might take ages to load this page especially if you have slow internet connections. My heart felt thanks to all those who sent yummy entries to this event. My apologies, if I have not replied your emails due to lack of time.

1.Methi Chapathi from Shruthi Sunil's Blog
2.Spring Rolls from Pavithra of Paakashaale
3.Stuffed Tortillas from Priya of Priya's Feast
4.Puliyogare from Jayashri of Smayal Arai
5.Aloo Paratha, Kathal Achar from Priyanka of Asan Khana
6.Spiced Almond Powder from Uma of Essence of Andhra
7.Aloo Parantha from Srividya of Appetising Recipes
8.Savory Muffins from Cham of Spice Club
9.Methi na Dhebra from Meera of Enjoy Indian Food
10.Banana Muffins from Trupti of Recipe Center
11.Tomato Pickle from Sunedha of Sumi's Weblog
12.Tomato Chutney from Sudeshna of Bengali Cuisine
13.Makyacha Chivda from Preeti of Khaugiri
14.Capsicum spicy rice from Phanita's Kitchenette
15.Crispy Sev from Bindiya of In Love with Food
16.Pulikachal from Rajeshwari of Rak's Kitchen
17.Almond Crescent Cookies from Divya of Divya's Cook Book
18.Besan Ladoo from EC of Simple Indian Food
19.Tomato Chutney from Shama Nagarajan of Easy2Cook Recipes
20.Almond Oat Cookies from Poornima of Tasty Treats
21.Banana Dates Muffin from Jayashri Satish of Kailas Kitchen
22.Besan Kachori from Sonal of Khaane ke Shaukeen
23.Mangalore Buns from Sushma of Savi Ruchi
24.Bharwan Karela from Bhawna of From My Palate
25.Coconut Laddu from Uma of Essence of Andhra
26.Thepla from A&N of Delectably Your's
27.Crispy Nutty Treats from Pallavi of All things yummy
28.Sun dried tomato pickle from Pratibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen
29.Onion-Tomato Chutney from Kavitha of Kavithavin Kaivanam
30.Tomato Chutney from Maya of Konkan World
31.Coconut Laddu from Indrani of Appyayan
32.Rice Crispies Chaat from Uma of Essence of Andhra
33.Beat Spring Onion Paratha , Coconut Laddu  , Coconut Peanut Podi, Soya Flour Parantha, Eggless oatmeal Chocochip scones from Priya of Priya's easy n tasty recipes.
34.Coconut, Uraddal and Onion Chutney from Chitra of Anyonecancook
35.Garlic Tamarind Kulambu from Valarmathi of Simple and Yummy Recipes
36.Potato Paratha with Oatmeal from Vibaa of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes
37.Bharwan Karela from Nupur of Cinnamon Hut
38.Jolada Rotti and Pulikachal from Chitra and Dibs of Chitra Amma's Kitchen
39.Mixed Dal Ambode and Spinach and Feta Pockets from Asha of Foodies Hope
40.Curry Leaves Powder from Jayashree of Luvgoodfood
41.Badam Halwa, Cup Cake, Carrot Halwa, Muffin Cakes, Plain Cakes, Carrot Cinnamon Cake, Bittergourd Fry, Cappucino Biscotti, Dates Cake, Basic Cake, Eggless Cake, Doodh Peda, Rich Plum Cake, Swiss Roll, Zebra Cake, Choclate Cake, Marble Cake, Choco Chip Cake, Double Decker Cake, Ragi Biscuits, Nutty Fudge, Wheat Bread, flax seeds chutney powder, Seimbaal, Home made condensed milk all of them and be found at SapthanaaBalachander's Passion4Cooking
42.Tomato Pickle from Kayal of Kayal's Kitchen 
43.Palak Coriander Parantha from Saritha of My Kitchen's Aroma
44.Thakkali Thokku from Geethu of Get Love to Cook
45.Paltain Chips from Lavanya of Vividha Ruchulu
46.Banana Cake from Pooja of Sai Kitchen
47.Mathri, Mangalore Buns and Plantain Chips from Supriya of Celebrating Little things in life
48.Dhapathi-a Karnataka Maharastra Border Cuisine from Smitha of Life Begins Nourish It
49.Palak Thepla and Khara Avalakki from Taste of Mysore
50.Spring Rolls from Mona of Zaiqa
51.Mathri,Nimki,Thekua,Gujhia,Urad kachodi and Red chili pickle from Priyanka of Asan Khana



Thanks again to one and all who participated in this event. Have a good week ahead.

Gobi Manchurian and Palak Thepla

This is my 200th post and it has been a wonderful culinary journey through this blog. TOM has always featured Karnataka style cooking ever since I started it. This is a different post, a dish which my family loves whenever I prepare it for them. It is a little unusual combination but it tastes well together :)Most of my elaborate cooking happens in the evening after a tiring day in office. We tried our best to take good pictures.

Gobi Manchurian

You need the following :
Frying:
Gobi/Cauliflower : 400 g ( a big flower)
Maida : 1 cup (1 cup = 100ml)
Kadalehittu/Besan/Gramflour : 3tbsp
Cornflour : 4 tbsp
salt
Oil for frying

Sauce:
Tomato Sauce : 1/4 cup (Maggi Hot and Sweet)
Soya Sauce : 5 tbsp
Vinegar : 2tbsp
Veg Oyester Sauce : 1 tbsp

Seasoning :
Oil : 1tsp
Ginger : 2" (chopped into tiny pieces)
Garlic: 4 pods (chopped finely)
Onion : 2 (chopped finely)

chopped coriander for garnishing.

Method:
1.Separate cauliflower florets and dip in salted hot water for 5 minutes. Drain the water and keep it aside
2.Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan on low flame.
3.Mix maida/ll purpose flour, besan and cornflour and salt with little water to make loose batter.
4.Heat the oil on medium flame for 2 mins.
5.Dip cauliflower florets in batter and leave it in hot oil. Fry them well and drain them on a absorbent paper/tissue paper. Change the tissue paper for every batch of fried gobi. Repeat this till you finish frying all gobi florets.
6.Mix the sauces, keep it aside.
7.Heat oil for tampering and add garlic fry till they are crisp and then add ginger. Add onion once the raw smell of ginger dissappears. Fry onions till they change color. Add sauce mixture and mix.
8.Add in fried gobi florets and give a good stirr. When the whole mixture becomes warm/hot you can remove it to a serving bowl, garnish and serve it hot hot hot!!!

It is usually served as a starter, but it goes very well as a vegetable to your roti/parantha/thepla

Palak Thepla

You need the following:
Palak : 2 cups, chopped finely
Whole Wheat Flour : 2 cups
Kadalehittu/Besan/Gram Flour : 1/2 cup
Toasted Sesame Seeds/Ellu/Till : 1 tbsp
Sour Curd : 1 cup
Green Chilli Paste : 1 tsp
Salt

1.Mix everything to make a tight dough. You can use little water if curd alone is not sufficiant . Let the dough rest for 10 mins.
2.Roll them into circles and fry them on hot tava/girdle. I did not use any oil for frying as manchurian had loads of oil in it. You can fry theplas with oil or ghee.

Onion and tomato Raita, Palak thepla and Gobi Manchurian made a tasty dinner for us. I hope you will enjoy prepapring them. Palak Thepla's goes to my event Meals on Wheels

On a different note, Pratibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen and Prajusha of I cook I post have given me "I love your Blog" award. Thank You Pratibha and Prajusha. I love your blogs too :)

I would like to pass this on to all wonderful bloggers who put in their heart and soul to share their yummy recipes. I love following blogs :

1.Jalan Jalan - Yosee

2.Vegetable Platter -Deesha

3.Foodies Hope and Aroma - Asha

4.Savi Ruchi -Sushma

5.Creative Saga - Sowmya

6.Indian Khana -Preeti

7.I Cook I Post -Prajusha

8.The Chef and Her Kitchen-Pratibha

9.Nanna Adige-Ashwini

10.Recipes 24 by 7 -Mangala Bhat

11.My Adige Mane -Gayathri

12.Grandma's Recipes - Lilly Mammama

13.My Kitchen Treasures -Happy Cook

14.Cuisine Point -Ujju

15.Colors of Nomadic Life - Shubha

16.Plantain Leaf -Rekha

17.Essence of Andhra -Uma

18.Spice Club -Cham

19.Mysoorean - Vani

20.Kannada Cuisine- Smitha

21.Key Bunch - Rekha and Sharon

22.Rak's Kitchen - Raji

23.Ruchii - Madhu

24.Cooking is Divine-Jayashri

25.Life Begins Nourish It - Smi

26.Priya's Easy n Tasty Recipes - Priya

27.Appyayan-Indrani

28.Preeti's Online Cook Book - Kitty Matti

29.Srikar's Kitchen-Sri

30.Passion for Cooking - Ramya VijayKumar

31.Ramya Cooks - Ramya Bala

32.My Handicrafts - Shama Nagarajan

33.Delectably Yours - A_and_N

34.Sai Kitchen-Pooja

35.Cooking Kriya - Sharada

36.Simply Innocence - Rajee Karthik

37.Chandrabhaga-Anusriram

38.Adalak's Kitchen

39.Chitra Amma's Kitchen-Chitra and Dibs

40.MalasKitchen-Vanamala

41.Sanghi's Food Delights

42.Kitchen Flavors-Lubna

43.Rasagavala..-Alamelu

44.Asan Khana-Priyanka

45.Konkan World- Maya

46.Simple Indian Food- EC

47.Finger Licking Food-Namratha

48.Will-O'-the-Wisp - Varsha Vipins

49.Cinnamon Hut-Nupur

50.Sukanya's Musings-Sukanya

.........and many more who visit this blog and leave lovley comments. I love all your blogs.

Spicy Baby Potatoes

After I saw this at Bharathy's place I got tempted and thought of making it. Well, when I start making some dish I always end up adding something extra to suit our pallet. It happened without fail this time also and it was perfect! after I finished the potatoes with coarse peanut powder and I deleted away garlic from the original recipe.

You need the following to make spicy baby potatoes :
Baby potatoes : 250g
Oil : 1tbsp
Mustard : 1/8 tsp
Hing/asafoetida : a pinch
Turmeric : a pinch
Onion : 1 chopped into fine pieces

Sambar powder/saarina pudi : 1 tsp
Curry leaves from 1 line
Water : 5 tbsp
Salt
Coarse Peanut Powder : 2 tbsp
Coriander : 2 tbsp, chopped

1.Wash and pressure cook baby potatoes with little salt. De skin them and refrigerate for 2 hrs.This makes them little firm.
2.Heat oil, pop mustard seeds, add hing, turmeric and curry leaves.
3.Onions go in next. Sautee till onions change color. Add in sambar powder, baby potatoes and give a good stirr. You can sprinkle little water at this stage as potatoes stick to the pan. Add little salt. Cover and cook till flavors get infused into potatoes.
4.Finally add peanut powder and mix. Open and cook for next 2-4 mins.
5.Switch off the stove and remove potatoes to a serving dish.Garnish with coriander leaves.
6. Serve hot with rice and rasam or they are good on their own :D

Khara Avalakki/Spiced up Pressed Rice

Pressed Rice/Avalakki is available in atleast 4 different thickness. The thinnest form of them is used to make snack. Crispy, crunchy, spicy arrmm urrmmm arrrmmm...it tastes arrrmmm..urrmmm....yummo with a cup of coffee. It is a filling snack by itself, however we (at home) always find ways to relish it differently.

You need the following to make this simple snack :
Oil : 5 tbspMustard Seeds : 1/ tsp
Asafoetida : 1 pinch
Turmeric : 1/2 tsp
Peanuts : Generous Amount (1 cup = 100ml)
Roasted Chickpeas/Hurgadle/pottukadale : Generous Amount (5 tbsp)
Dry Coconut : thinly sliced, as much as you can slice (5 tbsp)
Coriander Seeds : 1/2 tbsp (toasted)
Green Chillies : 12 (chopped into circles)
Curry Leaves : from 2 lines
Salt : requires very less, probably 1 tsp
Paper thin Avalakki/thin poha/thin pressed rice : 200 g

Method :
Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan. Add mustard seeds and let it pop. Add asafoetida/hing
Add turmeric powder, mix and add peanuts. Let peanuts become crisp and red.
Add Roasted chickpeas/hurgadle and thinly sliced dry coconut pieces. Let them brown
Now, throw in coriander seeds give a good stirr and add greedn chillies. Let green chillies become crisp,add curry leaves and salt followed by paper avalakki. Switch off the stove and remove the pan from the stove and put it aside.
Mix avalakki with rest of the ingredients well. Let it cool before you enjoy! This is a awesome snack to carry while you go on tours. It is filling and tasty too. This goes to my event Meals on Wheels.


Snack
Onions : 1/2 roughly, chopped
Coriander : 1/2 tbsp, chopped
Wet Coconut : 1 tbsp, grated
Lemon Juice : 1tsp
Khara Avalakki (from above recipe) - 2 cups
Mix, onions, coriander, coconut and lemon juice. Add avalakki and give a good stirr. Serve immediately.

Bread Halwa from Srikar's Kitchen

I saw this on Sri's blog and decided to make it. It was indeed a delicious treat for us. Thanks Sri for sharing your recipe. 

Ingredients :

Bread : 10 slices (chopped into 1" pieces)
Sugar : 1cup
Milk: 200ml
Saffron strands : few (soaked in 25 ml warm milk)
Ghee : 3 tbsp
Chopped Nuts : 4 tbsp

1. Fried bread pieces in 2 tbsp of ghee and remove them from pan. Fry nuts in the same pan with remaining 1 tbsp of ghee and keep nuts aside.
2.Take fried bread pieces, milk and bring to boil. Let bread pieces cook in milk.
3.When the mixture thickens, add sugar, saffron strands with milk and bring to boil again.
4.Let the mixture thicken, switch off the stove and garnish with fried nuts and serve.

Yummy bread halwa is ready to be devoured. :D

Avarekaalu Usli

A 'must-do' side dish for chapathi during avarekaalu season. It is simple to cook and to eat ;) too.

You need the following to make Avarekaalu Usli :

Avarekaalu : 1 big cup, (deseeded beans) (surti papdi, green hyacinth beans)
Onion : 2 (chopped length wise)
Ginger : 2 " piece, thinly sliced
Green Chillies : 5
Lemon Juice : from 1 lemon (small lemon)
Salt
Water
Oil (1tsp), mustard, curry leaves, turmeric (1 pinch)

1.Heat oil in a cooker pan. When it is hot add mustard seeds. Once it stops poping, add curry leaves, green chillies, ginger and sautee for a minute. Add chopped onion and fry till onion changes color.
2. Add deseeded avarekaalu, water and salt. Bring to boil. Check for salt, adjust if required. Close the cooker lid and pressure cook for 2 whistles.
3. When pressure comes down, open the cooker lid and add lemon juice. Give a good stir. Serve with chapathi/paratha.

Storing Coriander Leaves ~ Keep it Ready Kitchen Essentials

Few of you had left comment on my earlier post about storing coriander leaves. Here is how I store them:

Wipe coriander leaves with a dry kitchen towel. Roll them in news paper and put it in airtight box. Like this it stays for a week in your refrigerator.

Menasinakayi Bonda ~ Mirchi Bajji

This post is dedicated to all good memories of Menasinakayi Bonda, associated with Chitradurga and Davangere (C&D). There was no particular reason to eat them, we partied on bondas for all simplest to most happiest moments. Probably in those two cities no human being would say 'NO' to menasinakayi bonda. I have tasted bonda's in Mysore, Bangalore, and many other places but they are not as good as those which I relished in C&D. 'Ram and Co circle' of Davangere is world famous in C&D :D :P  The bonda's that are made in C&D are crisp outside and softer inside; they are brown and not yellow when they are served. A packet of  crispy mandakki(puffed rice) topped with chopped onion, chillies, coriander and 2 bonda's ...... slurrrrrrrrrp!

You need the following to make them :
Gram Flour/Kadalehittu/Besan - 2 cups
Rice Flour - 1tbsp
Ovinakaalu/Omam - 1/8 th tsp
Green Chillies - 8
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp (optional)
Salt - 1tbsp
warm water
Oil for deep frying

Method  :
Mix gram flour, rice flour, salt, omam, with little water at a time to make a thick batter. Bonda batter resembles idli batter. Leave it aside.
Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan. Heat it on a very low flame.
Slit green chillies and remove seeds. Rub salt and leave it aside for 20 min in warm water.
Bring the stove to sim on which oil is kept. 
After 20 mins, remove chillies from water. Mix cumin powder and salt and rub inside surface of the chillies with this powder.
Dip these chillies in bonda batter and  leave it slowly in hot oil.
Fry these till they turn yellowish brown. Remove them and keep it aside.
!!!At this stage these bondas are only half done!!!
Repeat the above process for all chillies. Once you have half baked all bajjis, it is time to fry them again till they are golden brown. These bondas are crisp from outside and softer inside.

Onion Pakoda:
If you have any batter left, add finely chopped onions, coriander, curry leaves and little salt and make onion pakoda/bajjis.

Kid's Lunch Box for Montly Mingle

I am just waiting for the round up of this event to have more ideas for packing lunch box! Here are Akash's Lunch box dishes....Quantity in the photograph does not exactly indicate his eating capacity. Recipes are blogged either blogged before or they are just very simple modifications of regular items that you make everyday.

1. Macaroni and Fruits : (simple stir fry of cooked macaroni with vegetables. olive oil seasoned with cumin, finished by adding lemon juice and salt)





2. Mixed Vegetable Avalakki :(added vegetables to usual avalakki oggarane)




3. Mixed Vegetable Chapathi & Fruit Salad : (added grated carrots too)



4. Idli Sambar




5. Lauki Chapathi and grapes : (added grated lauki with redchilli powder, jeerapowder, dhania powder and salt to wheat flour and made chapathis)



6. Poori and Potato neer palya



7. Rave Idli :



They all are going to Srivalli's MM -Kid's Lunches event. MM was started by Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey blog. Sri, you have selected a very good theme for the event. Happy Hosting.