Recap~ 2011

Wishing you all a very happy new year, 2012. May god bless you all.

Hibiscus from my garden

A quick recap of  few things which I enjoyed doing this year, which is going to end in few hours.


Coconut and Carrot Layered Burfi :

Bread Making - I learned to make bread from a colleague. Thanks to her for boosting my confidence towards baking. 

Iyengar Bakery Style "Khara Bread" 

My friends all time favorites : Shavige (Indian "bee hoon" )

Vade/Vadai :



 Christmas Party Winner @ Office: Tandoori Aloo 

 Hope the year 2012 will be more appetising for Taste of Mysore. Sending this post to Srivalli of Cooking4AllSeasons Blog. for her Best of 2011 event.  

See you all next year, till then enjoy your new year party ...

Tandoori Aloo ~ Oven Baked spicy Potatoes

A tasty starter for your parties. Takes a little effort to make, but it is worth the effort. Note the time taken here if you are thinking of making this. Marinating potatoes takes 12-13hrs. Rest of the steps take around 1-2hrs. Plan well if you want to give it a try.

Entire process can be divided into 4  stages; 1. Cook & deskin Potatoes 2. Making of tandoori spice powder 3. Marinating 4. Baking


Clean potaotes with several changes of water. If you wish to keep the potato skin intact, clean potatoes well. Half cook potatoes and remove them from water. Poke a hole into them. They are ready to be marinated. Alternatively you can deskin potatoes and poke a hole into them.
Making of  tandoori spice powder : (enough for 1kg baby potatoes)

Ingredients:
Coriander seeds -2 tbps
Jeera (Cumin) - 3tbsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1tbsp (increase the quantity if you want it more spicy)
Kasoori Methi - 1tsp
Mace -1 number
Clove - 5-6 numbers
Cinnamon Stick- 2 numbers
Black Cardamom - 4grains (I prefered to use less, you can add more if you like the taste of it)
Red Food Color - a big pinch
Turmeric- 1tsp

Method:
1. In a thick bottomed pan dry fry coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mace, clove, cinnamon, cardamom separately till they are aromatic. Let them cool down.
2. Powder fried spices with kasoori methi, red color, turmeric and red chilli powder.
3. Tandoori spice powder is ready for use.

Store if extra :

Marinade Ingredients : 200g yogurt, ginger & garlic paste, Tandoori spice powder and salt.
Mix all the ingredients well. Check for salt levels and more if required. Dip all the potatoes which are ready to be marinated. Mix well to coat the marinade over the potatoes. Let the potatoes rest well with the marinade for atleast 12-13hrs. This is very important for getting tasty tandoori potatoes.

Mix potatoes with marinade :

Baking :

Line your baking tray with aluminium foil. Spray oil. Line the potatoes like this :

Bake them at 200 degree centigrade for 10 to 20 mins or till they are done. After 5-7mins or when the marinade on the top is cooked, turn them over and continue to bake till the other side is cooked. 

Tandoori Potatoes are ready to be enjoyed with some cheesy dip. I prepared them for my
office Christmas party and all my colleagues loved them. I am sure, you will love them too.

Potatoes wrapped in a.foil for party.....

Will be back with more party recipes for your new year party. Till then, enjoy tandoori aloo..

Congress ~ Spicy Peanuts

As promised, here is the recipe for Congress Kadalebeeja or Spicy Peanuts.

Roasted and Deskinned Peanuts -  1 cup (approx200g) (read as - as much as you wish)
Red Chilli Powder- 2 tbsp
Pepper Powder- 1tsp
Byadagi Chilli Powder - 1tsp (or you can use kashmiri chilli powder)
Food Color (red) - a pinch (I have not used, but to make it look like commercially available stuff you can use it)
Salt - as required
Rice Flour - 1 tbsp
Oil - 3-4 tbsp
Asafoetida (hing) - a pinch
Curry Leaves - as much as you want

Method :
1. Heat oil. Add asafoetida. When asafoetida becomes aromatic add curry leaves and fry till crisp.
2. Switch off the stove and add rest of the ingredients in the following order - pepper, redchilli powder, food color, salt, rice flour and mix well.
3. Add deskinned peanuts and mix well with the rest of the ingredients.
4. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea or with bakery style bread.

Till next time, ENJOYY!

Iyengar Bakery Style Khara Bread

It was love at first sight with Prathy's Iyengar Bakery style khara bread. Just, finished baking and eating it with some home made congress kadalebeeja. Combo was yummy!!!!!

I made this bread using bread machine. The recipe for our bread machine is very different from Prathy's recipe. If you are baking in a oven please refer to her recipe here. Below recipe suits our bread machine :

Salt -1tsp
Sugar- 1~2tbsp
Egg- 1
Butter- 2-4 tbsp
Milk Powder- 2tbsp 
Milk or Water - upto 280g (if you are using milk, then skip milk powder)

Wholemeal bread flour or Bread Flour - 400g
Instant Yeast- 2tsp

Extra Ingrediants for Khara Bread :

Oil, jeera, finely chopped curry leaves, onions cut lengthwise, finely chopped coriander leaves, black pepper powder, green chilli paste. Heat oil, add jeera and curry leaves. When jeera browns add green chilli paste, pepper powder and onions. Sautee till onions turn pink. Keep it ready to add them to bread dough.

Method:
1. Weigh the baking bowl. Add salt, sugar, butter, milk powder. Tare the weight which simply means reset the weight back to 0. Add egg and fluid (water or milk) upto 280g. Tare the weight again. Add bread flour upto 400g. Add yeast on top of bread flour. Put the baking bowl back into the bread machine and follow the instructions.Our bread machine starts mixing the ingredients and kneading them. Onion mixture is added after 30 minutes from the start time. You can sprinkle some sesame seeds when the bread is ready for baking which happens is last 40 mins. Our bread machine kneads, rests and bakes the bread. It takes 3hrs for the total process. Result is yummy bread like this...

How to make congress kadalebeeja? Come back to read the next post on Taste of Mysore for the recipe of Congress ;) Till then have a wonderful day.

Paani Poori

I just can't resist the sight of paani poori, esp when it is so well presented. Akash also could not stop himself when he saw paani poori post at Prathibha's blog. Poori recipe was something which always bothered me. I tired Prathy's way to make poori and the result was good. Here is my version of paani with Prathy's version of Poori :D

For Paani : (less spicy version, which is pleasent to drink as much as you want!)
Pudina/Mint Leaves - 1 cup tighlty packed
Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup, chopped
Ginger- 1"
Garlic- 2-3 cloves (adjust accordingly if you like strong garlic flavor)

Green Chillies- 2
Sompu (Dill seeds)/Saunf - 1tsp
Pepper- 8
Black Salt - 2tsp
Salt - as needed
Lemon Juice- from 1 or 2 lemon
Water - 2 litres
Method:
Blend all the ingredients (except lemon juice) with little water to make chutney.
Mix this chutney with 2 litres of water and set aside in refrigerator for 2-3hrs.
Filter paani using a muslin cloth or a cloth filter.
Paani is ready to use
For Poori (recipe from Prathibha- the chef and her kitchen blog)

Chiroti Rava (Very fine semolina) - 1 cup
Maida (all purpose flour) - 1 cup
Urid dal flour (deskinned black gram)- 1/2 cup
Salt and 2 tbsp of oil
Water
Oil for deep frying

Mix all the ingredients to make a soft yet firm dough.
Roll them with rolling pin to make a big circle.
Using a round cookie cutter cut rounds.
Deep fry them in oil to get pooris.

Pooris were sold out at home!! I had to hide few of them for taking pictures.

Other ingredients you need to assemble paani poori :

1. Peas and Potato Mixture : Cook green peas and potato. Mash them separately and mix them with little salt.
2. Onion Mix - Chop onion and coriander to small pieces and mix well
3. Khara Sev (Store bought)
4. Dates and Tamarind Chutney aka 'Meetha' or 'Meethi chutney'
Lion Dates (seedless) - 1 cup packed
Tamarind Juice - 2tbsp
Jeera Powder - 1 tsp (fry and powder jeera)
Black Salt - 1tsp
Soak lion dates in little warm water till it is soft to blend. Blend dates with tamarind and water. Bring this mixture to boil. If you have a very thick chutney at this point, add little water to dilute it. Add jeera powder, black salt and switch off the stove. Meetha is ready.

To assemble paani poori :

Make a hole on one side of the poori.

Stuff in little peas n potato mixture, top it with onion mixture and sev.

Dunk it in paani and let it land inside your mouth smoothly...... ummmmm.....!!! nothing more to say

Badam Burfi/Almond Fudge

                                      This year's deepavali sweets : Almond Burfi and Jhangri

Trust you all had wonderful deepavali. I made badam burfi and jhangri for this year deepavali. Numerous blogs have shared this recipe. Here is my version of Almond Fudge aka Badam Burfi.

You need :

Almonds : approx 200gm (2 fistfulls less than one pavu)
Sugar: measured the same qty as almonds. Used same cup to measure both the ingredients
Ghee : 2tbsp (which I did not add)
Saffron strands a few

Greased plate and rolling pin (lattanige)

Step I: Blanch almonds. Pour almonds into hot water and leave it aside for 7 to ten minutes
Step 2: Deskin almonds and pat them. Let them dry.  I just used my hair dryer to blow dry the almonds. Worked well. Blend them to make almond flour.

Blanched Almonds (R) Almond Flour (L)

Take sugar and saffron strands in a heavy bottomed non stick pan. Add water enough to dissolve sugar. Boil on medium flame till you get one string consistency. When you start seeing bubbles like this..

Gejje Paaka

be prepared. This stage is called gejje paka and 2-3 mins later you start seeing one string paka or consistency syrup. Pull the sugar syrup between your thumb and fore finger. The string which forms should be firm. Slowly start adding almond flour little at a time. Mix well, add again till you finish all the flour. Add 2 tbsp of ghee and keep mixing till it comes together like ball in the center of the bowl.

Grease a plate or mould with ghee. Pour this hot mixture in the non stick pan over to it. Grease a rolling pin and make it even.

Cut them into desired shape and apply little ghee on top which I did instead of adding 2tbsp ghee. But I advise you to add ghee to get much nicer burfis.

Take out and store in a air tight box.

and enjoy like this....

Kobbari Sakkare Holige

I would like to share kobbari sakkare holige..

Few facts about this holige :
1. Easy to make
2. Less preparation required
3. They must be consumend when hot. Please do not keep them as they tend to become dry. Unless you like to eat that way!

What you need:
1. Maida (All Purpose Flour) - 1 cup
2. Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup (adjust sweet levles according to you taste)
3. Dessicated dry coconut (powdered dry coconut)-1/2 cup
4. Milk - 3-4tbsp
5. Oil
6. Water
Method:
1. Mix maida with water to make a very soft dough. Add oil on the dough and leave it aside. It looks like this:

Mix, grated coconut, sugar with 1-2 tbsp milk. If you need more milk, add little at a time and mix. It should look like this :

Make small balls.

For making holige, take a plastic coated paper and oil the surface. Oil the rolling pin. Take a small lemon sized maida and pat it on the paper. Roll it to have a small circle. Keep the sugar-coconut mixture in between. Close it from all sides. Roll it to make holige and transfer it to the hot pan along with the paper. Slowly remove the paper. Fry with oil on both the sides and remove it to a serving plate. Eat hot with ghee/milk.

On other note, Pratibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen tagged me for 7 links game. I went back to search the post thinking that it was only 2 weeks ago that she tagged me. I realised that it has already been more than 4 weeks since she tagged :P Ok, here I go about telling the 7 links of my blog...

My Most Beautifull Post : There are many! It would be unfair to pick any one of them.

I pick a sweet made on Varamahalakshmi vrata, Hayagreeva

What is most beautiful about this? It is the sweet itself and many memories attached to it. We loved it as children and my mom loved it too.
My Most Popular Post : Well, popularity has varied with times. But, most of the times my google side bar of 'most popular post' shows Vangibath Powder and Vangibath. So, I go with google... Well, there is no good picture of it though. Sometimes, recipe speaks better than picture and this is a good example.
The post I am most proud of: It would be good to say it this way: The post that made me proud of by the feedback of readers : Vadappi/Akki hittu poori. Again, recipe speaks more than picture.
Most Useful Post: There are many. From stotras to mantras to many readers requested recipes. Navaratri Festive Food Round up was liked by most of my subscribers.
Surprise Success Post: Rave Pongal

Most Controversial Post : None
Post Which requires most attention : Please revisit all the recipes, whenever you get time!!! ehehehee...

Have a fantastic Deepavali. Not sure when will I get time to blog again, till then take care and eat well.

Mekkejola Usli/ Quick Corn Snack for navaratri days

Navaratri is fast approaching and we all need some or the other quick snacks for serving guests. Everyday is a special day and navaratri days are overloaded with usli recipes in blogs. Here is one of the simplest ones which we all love :D

It is easy to buy fresh corn from supermarkets here in Singapore. If they are not available, frozen corn works well for this.

You Need :

Fresh corn on the cob : 2
Butter/Oil : 1/2 tbsp
Kitchen King Masala+Red Chilli Powder + Salt = 1heaped tsp

Separate corn from the cob like this :

Knife works well for this purpose. Easy and neatly done.

Heat butter/oil in a pan. Fry corn till it is golden and starts to pop. Add the masala mix and stir to mix. Switch off the stove. Scoop it into a bowl and serve hot!

For variation, I added cooked rice flour balls (cooked, kneaded and made into small rounds) to this and it worked well. It was Prathibha's avarelalu usli idea which I extended to corn.

Khara Bhath

Khara Bath is nothing but Upittu with a gorgeous name. I got tempted to make it the way Pratibha made after she flaunted her awesome clicks. Basically anything with too much oil or ghee gets a 'no' ticket at home. But, I was heads over heels to make this...err..like this... 

                                                            (Aditya @17 months)

Here is the outcome ..

It was delicious. Akash and Nita (our helper), who dislike upittu, took two servings!

Ingredients:

Vegetables cut into very small pieces : Carrot, french beans, brinjal, onions

I added a half a handful of peas too.

Green Chillies, cut length wise:  6 (depending on the spice levels of chillies)

Ginger-Garlic Paste: 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder: 1tsp

Semolina/Rava : 1 cup (250ml) (roast rava till fragrant, before you use it for upma)

Ghee : 4 tbsp (You can add more if u wish, this is the highlight of the dish which makes it a winner)

lemon juice : 1tbsp; coriander leaves chopped: 2tbsp and grated coconut : 2tbsp

Seasoning Ingredients : Mustard, Cashewnuts (handfull), chanadal (1tsp), uriddal(1tsp),curry leaves (few)

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a pan. Add cashew nut,chanadal, uriddal and fry till golden. Add curryleaves, greenchillies and fry for 30 sec.

2. Add onions, fry for 30 secs, and ginger garlic paster.

3.Add vegetables and fry till they are soft. Add little salt to aid quick cooking

4.Add 2.5 cups of water (use same cup to measure rava and water) and bring it to boil. Add salt. Mix well and lower the flame. Taste water and check salt levels. If required, add and adjust the taste. Add garam masala powder. Switch off the stove. Slowly add rava with constant stirring. After all rava has been added, switch on the stove again. Cover and cook for next 3-4 mins. Switch off the stove.

5. After 10 mins, add lemon juice and mix well. Sprinkle few coriander leaves and coconut when you serve.

Aloo Tikki Chat

Ingr edients:

For Aloo Tikki:

Potatoes : 3
Cornflour: 2 tbsp
Salt

Cook potatoes, deskin and grate them. Add salt and two tablespoon of cornflour and knead. Divide them into equal portions and make ball from each portion. Flatten the ball to get a disch shaped 1" thick. Shallow fry them on a pan. Tikkis are ready for chat.

For Pudina/Dhania (Mint/Coriander) /Green Chutney :

Roughly chopped fresh coriander leaves : 1 cup
Roughly chopped fresh mint: 1/2 cup
Green chillies: 2-3, stemmed and chopped
Black Salt-1/2 tsp
Sugar: 1/2 tsp
Freshly squeezed lemon juice: 1tsp

1. Take coriander leaves and mint in a blender and add 1/4 cup ( 50ml) of water and blend to a smooth paste
2. Add the black salt and sugar and blend again.
3. Transfer to a bowl and stir lemon juice.

For Dates and Tamarind chutney

Deseeded Dates : 15-20
Tamarind Pulp: 350 ml (soak tamarind in water and squeeze the juice)
Jaggery : 200gms (grated or powdered)

Roast and Powder: 2tsp cumin seeds and 1/4 tsp fennel seeds

Red Chilli Powder :  2 tsp
Ginger Powder: 1tsp
Black Salt: 1tsp
Table Salt: 1tsp

1. Tear/Roughly chop dates. In a non stick pan, combine dates, tamarind pulp and jaggery. Bring to boil. Add all powders and boil over medium heat, continue to cook for 6 mins.
2. Let it cool to room temperature. Preserve in a jar.

Additional Ingredients:
Cooked Green Peas : 1 cup
Finely chopped onions: 1/2 cup
Finely chopped tomatoes: 1/2 cup
Finely chopped coriander: 1/4 cup
Aloo Bhujia/Sev: 1 cup
Chat Masala: 1tsp

To Assemble:
Place Aloo Tikki in a plate. Spread a tsp of green chutney and tamarind chuteny. Top it with few peas,  Add onions, tomato and coriander. Drizzle little chat masala and Sev. Serve.

Enjoy!!