Harry Potter and Yummy Rawa Idlis and Dhoklas

One weekend can be so different from another. Last weekend was simply horrible, we had a power failure for 20 hours , yes that's right 20 hours, my maid did not turn up for two consecutive days without any prior notice . Yes I have to admit , that in spite of having done all my washing up and laundry and vacuuming myself for last 6 years , I am now already used to the luxury of having a daily maid come in and do all that for me and although I don't have a major panic attack if she doesn't turn up I do get a bit irritated no doubt. And to top it all the hattrick was completed by no water supply. Aaghhhh !!! But I some how managed to keep my calm and keep things going.

But this weekend has been a delight so far. Saturday started late and that is very late. After a quick trip to my son's school to complete some scholarship formalities we had a leisurely brunch of idlis and dosas washed down with cups of hot filter coffee and aromatic ginger tea at a nearby restaurant. Afternoon was spent helping D with his homework and preparing a bit for his forthcoming unit test (surprisingly it went very well with D co-operating to the T). But the best bit came in the evening which we spent with Harry Potter. Reading this you might think that I am a big Harry Potter fan ,but believe me you couldn't be further from the truth. I am probably the biggest Harry Potter non-fan ever , so much so that I am always teasing hubby and son that I am going to start a Non Harry Potter fan club etc etc. So the funniest thing is I have not watched any of the Harry Potter movies nor have I read any of the books other than 1/2 of  the first one but today I watched the last one Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. That too in 3D in a cinema hall .Can you beat that?  And I quite enjoyed it. My friends laughed at me saying that I am probably the first person who has started enjoying Harry Potter in the reverse order. Come to think of it I am kind of toying with the idea of reading Harry Potter :)) Lets see how long my interest in HP lasts.

Anyway speaking of brunches and idlis reminds me that I too made some idlis last week. These were simple Rawa Idlis which I sometimes serve as Idlis and sometimes as Dhokla. They taste just as awesome either way.

When made as Idlis I just put a couple of vegetables like grated carrots and maybe peas in them and sometimes even cashews and as dhokla I just add loads of fresh coriander and green chillies. They are perfect to take on picnics or as a healthy afterschool snack. Here's how I make them:

Ingredients:

1 cup coarse Rawa (ordinary Semolina, not Idli rawa)

1 cup water

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/4 cup par boiled peas (or frozen ones which are already par boiled)

1/4 cup urid Dal  which have been soaked it water for 1/2 an hour (split black lentils)

handful of chopped cashews

2 green chillies very finely chopped

Some chopped coriander

1 tspn Eno Fruit Salt

1 tspn sugar

Salt to taste

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients keeping the soda-bi-carb for the last.

The mixture should have the same consistency as ordinary idli batter.

If you find it too thick just add some more water.

Give it a taste once you have mixed it and adjust the seasoning accordingly. 

It does not need any resting time.

Just leave it aside until you oil the Idli moulds and then you can immediately steam them.

Serve hot with coconut chutney or ketchup. 

On other occasions make the batter with finely chopped green chillies and plenty of fresh coriander and steam the batter as dhoklas like in the pic below

Serve the Dhoklas with the traditional tempering of hot oil , mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves. Put dollops of hot and sweet ketchup on top of each piece to make it pretty and also easy to eat.

Kadhai Paneer and Hot Phulkas (A Killer Combination)

Ooooh it really feels good to blog again. I have been away from the blogging scene for so long that that it feels like it did when I had just started Food-n-More in UK. It was the only thing I could think about . I used to constantly check (like about 50 times a day) to see if there were any new comments and everytime I made something new I wouldn't let hubby or son have a taste of it until I had photographed the dish from all possible angles and was finally satisfied with my amateurish photography attempts. They have always been so sweet and indulgent about it . Hubby has always proudly shown off Food-n-More to all his friends and colleagues and son is so sweet that he has started his own blog in which he posts about the different construction toys he makes. He also calls it by a name similar to my blog . He calls it Struxx-n-More because he wanted something just like Food-n-More. Needless to say that they are both very happy that I am blogging again.

There have been times when I made food especially for blogging and then at other times I have blogged about recipes that are firm favourites in my house with classic ingredients. A very hot favourite of mine is Paneer. Just thinking about it makes me smile. I love to cook with paneer, so much so that if I am having guests over hubby usually asks me  "So what paneer recipe are you thinking of madam?" And he is usually not wrong in guessing that there will be atleast one paneer dish.

I don't exactly remember when I made this Paneer Kadhai because I cook so often with paneer, but I thought it good enough to share with you guys. Chapatis is another thing I love to make. Whenever we had get togethers in the UK where all of us pooled in and prepared the meal ,chapatis were always alloted to me, or rather I always volunteered to make chapatis. Believe me well made soft chapatis can very often be the show stopper.  So this makes the picture above my all time favourite meal. Delicious Paneer and  soft pliant chapatis hmmmmmm !!!!

Recipe for Paneer Kadhai: (taken from Tarla Dalal and tweaked a bit here and there)

500 gms paneer 

2 cups capsicum (or coloured bell peppers which I have used)

2 tsp coriander seeds

5 whole red chillies

3/4 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)

2 green chillies, chopped

2 tsp chopped ginger

4 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp chopped coriander

3 tbsp ghee

salt to taste

For the paste

6 cloves garlic (lehsun) mixed with a little water

Method

1.Cut the paneer and capsicum into cubes

2.Pound the coriander seeds and red chillies together.

3.Heat the ghee, add the garlic paste and cook on a slow flame for a few seconds.

4.Add the capsicum and pounded spices and cook on a slow flame for 30 seconds.

5.Add the green chillies and ginger and fry again for a few seconds.

6.Add the tomatoes and cook until the ghee comes on top.

7.Add the kasoori methi and salt and fry again for a few seconds.

8.Finally, add the cubed paneer and cook for a few minutes.

9.Sprinkle coriander on top serve hot and enjoy it yourself too.

These are a few of my favourite things

To say that the last 6 years of my life in the UK have been brilliant will be a major understatement. I have spent the best days of my life there , eaten some of the best  food  in the world  and seen so  many beautiful places not only in UK but all throughout Europe that I truely consider myself to be very lucky.

 Having now moved to India and after spending the last 3 months here in my hometown, in all honesty I will have to say that very often it is only my physical presense that is here whereas in my mind I am miles away in my UK home. And believe me it does not take much to trigger off  memories of beautiful days spent  there. It can be anything like a jar of peanut butter,  or tea made with tea bags and a hot water kettle, or seeing iceberg lettuce in some store or simply a pair of socks I bought at Wimbledon. It makes me long to go back. I know this was to happen . It is not an easy transtion and I need to give myself time ,but I cannot dodge that feeling of melancholy that takes over for some time, until I make a very conscious effort to drive it away by distracting myself  into something else. But at other times I don't want to let go of the memories and what I do then is open my drawer of little treasures that I have collected over the years. Today I want to share a few with you: And here they are:

I bought these Little Elf Bowls in TK Maxx last Christmas. I absolutely did not need these but I just fell in love with them. I am sure I will put them to good use.

These Salad Hands are simply too good. They are marvellous to use to serve salads of all kinds. Those of you familiar with Sainsbury's will know the brand TU that you can see on the tag

This little wall piece I bought as a gift for someone ,but eventually could not bear to part with it. Bought it from Little Timbers , a gorgeous little shop selling all kinds of wooden artefacts with funny things written on them. It now hangs happily on my kitchen wall in India.

One of favourite shops in UK was The Works where I always found some or the other good bargain. These cute postcards will soon be framd to put up in my new home

These cute magnetic fridge pegs are for those important reminders that need to be there on the fridge all the time staring you in the eye so you do not forget. These are of course from the Kath Kidston Collection and I bought these on my way back on the airport.

The plan is to bring UK into my Indian home with these small but special  personal touches. They make me feel good and bring back lovely memories of some of the best days of my life. Feels good to share them with you all :))



Ashadhi Ekadashi (An Auspicious start to blogging again)

A very big Hello to all my dear readers. Yes, I am back with Food-n-More after a year long break . And boy what an year it's been. It's brought about  huge changes for me and my family. As I already mentioned in my previous post, Food-n-More now comes to you from India and you bet I am very excited about that. Blogging from my home in India is going to be great fun for me. There is so much more I can experiment with here. I have my mom close by from whom I can take live demos from for all those dishes that I find daunting and besides having access to all the brilliant  ingredients available at my local grocer , I am also very excited about all the loads of crockery I have in my cupboards that I can use in my pics. My crockery is one thing I used to miss very badly when I was away.So much so that hubby used to say that I miss it more than I miss my parents, but I think most of my culinary buddies will relate to that feeling we have about our precious possessions in the kitchen.

Let me tell you that I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could blog about in my first post after so long. I kept thinking it had to be something extraordinary , something that would blow everybody way but then I altered my thinking and felt that it was also so much nicer to share something that I love eating myself, which is basically what I have always done  . And it is this thought that made it so much easier for me to start off.

I started writing this post yesterday as it was Ashadhi Ekadashi .Although not a very religious person at heart I thought it was a  good auspicious day to restart blogging. That's the reason behind the picture above of Lord Vitthal and Rukmini.. Ashadhi ekadashi is a religious procession festival and is celebrated during the months of June- July.  People consider the two eleventh days, "Ekadashi", of every month to be of special importance. But the eleventh day (bright) of Ashadh is known as the great Ekadashi or Mahaekadashi. This Mahaekadashi is also known as Shayani Ekadashi, because on this day Vishnu falls asleep to wake up four months later on Prabodhini Ekadashi in the Kartik month. This period is known as Chaturmas and coincides with the rainy season.

Now Ashadhi Ekadashi is a day of fast and on this day people go walking in huge processions to Pandharpur singing the Abhangas (chanting hymns) of Saint Tukaram and Saint Dnyaneshwar to see their God Vitthal. The yatra starts in Allandi and ends on Guru Poornima day at Pandharpur.

For me and my family Ekadashi is a day on which we enjoy all the foodie treats that are allowed on a day of fasting. Not for us a fast which comprises of eating only fruit or having only liquids .... oh no we love our "fast" food too much :)) So I made a couple of things yesterday, out of which I managed to photograph only one and that is my favourite Dahi Sabudana.

Now inspite of being my favourite it's surprising how rarely I make this dish. I don't know why. But I made it a point to make it yesterday and we all loved it, even my 9 year old who had it for the first time. It's one of those things which prove the saying "The simplest things in life sometimes give you the most pleasure" Well Dahi Sabudana definitely ticks all the boxes for me. What you need is:

Ingredients:

1 cup sabudana (Sago seeds)

1/2 cup crushed roasted peanuts

3/4 to 1 cup plain  yogurt

1/4 cup milk

4 tblspns finely chopped coriander

2 tspns sugar 

Salt to taste

For the tempering:

3 tblspns oil

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 tspns Jeera (cumin)

Method:

• You need a bit of prepping the day before you make this dish or in the morning if you would like to serve it in the evening .
• As this is a dish eaten cold and the sabudana is not actually cooked we need to roast the sabudana well before leaving it to soak.
• So roast the sabudana on a low to moderate flame for at least 15 to 20  minutes.
• Let it cool off completely before soaking it
• Once it has cooled soak it in water (water level should be only 1/2 a cm above the sabudana) for at least 6 to 7 hrs or overnight.
• To prepare the dish first prepare the tempering and leave it to cool.
• In a large bowl mix all the items listed under Ingredients and then add the cooled tempering to it. It is very important to have cooled the tempering before mixing it with the sabudana.
• Garnish the dish with more chopped coriander and crushed peanuts
• And that's it really .Dahi sabudana is ready to eat .  

Eat it at breakfast, as an evening snack or even as a light supper on the day of fasting. Or better still don't wait for a day of fasting enjoy it anyway. :))

Food-n-more is coming back very soon !!! Yehhhhh !!!!

Yes that's right !! Food-n-more will soon be coming back with delicious dishes and tips and much much more very soon. And guess what it is now coming to you from INDIA.

So watch this space guys and get ready for some brilliant gastronomic delights.