Pasta with Arabiatta Sauce

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Ingredients
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· Pasta ( Spaghetti , Penne )
· Mozarella Cheese – 1 cube
· Tomato – ½ Kg
· Dry Italian Seasoning – Oregano , Basil , Parsley
· Olive Oil
· Chilli Flakes – 2 Tblspoon
· Sugar – I tsp
· Olives – 4 to 5 for Ganish
· Wine – Optional



Penne Arabiata


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Method:
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1. Pressure cook the tomatoes for 3 whistles .
2. On cooling , peal of the tomato skin and make a puree of it
3. Heat a soup pan and add olive oil
4. Once hot, add the tomato puree
5. Add the chilli flakes , sugar , salt and allow it to cook.
6. Simmer for about 15 min and the sauce will be cooked.
7. Add the Italian seasoning and wine and mix .
8. Cook Pasta in hot water and strain it. Mix it with a little oliv oil and jeep
aside.
9. Heat olive oil in pan . Put the arabiatta sauce and then the paste and toss.
10. Top it with the mozarella cheese and once the cheese starts melting switch off.
11. Serve hot and garnish with some more cheese

Vegetable Cutlet

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Ingredients
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Carrot , Bean - 2 cups Chopped into small pieces
Potato - 4
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Peas - 1/2 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tbsp
Garam Masala
Chilli Powder
Turmeric
Bread Crumbs - 2 cups
Maida - 1 cup
Oil for deep frying
Coriander for garnishing
Salt

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Method
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1. Heat oil in a kadai
2. Add onion and fry till brown
3. Add all the vegetables , chilli powder, garam masala and salt
4. Add 2 cups of water and cook till done
5. Pressure cook the potatoes and mash them
6. Add the potatoes to the cooked vegetables and mix nicely.
7. cook for a min n switch off
8. Garnish with coriander leaves
9. Roll the prepared veg - potato mixture into small cylindrical cubes
10. Take the maida n mix it with water and salt.
11. The maida mixture should be like a paste. Shud not be very watery
12. Spread the bread crumbs in a plate
13. Dip the cubes in the maida paste. Make sure they are fully covered in the paste
14. Roll the cubes in the bread crumbs . Make sure they are fully covered in the bread
crumbs
15. Heat oil for deep fry and keep it ready
16. Deep fry the cutlets till brown
17. Serve with Tomato Sauce

Mooli Paratha

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Ingredients

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Radish - 3 Nos

Chilli Powder

Turmeric

Salt

Atta

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Method

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1. Knead the dough for chapathi and keep aside

2. Grate the radish and squizz out all the water that comes out of it
3. Heat oil in a pan.

4. Add the radish , chilli powder , turmeric and salt .

5. Saute the radhish until it is cooked

6. Roll two chapathis.
7. Take one , spread a layer of the cooked radish in the centre
8. Keep the other chapathi on top of it.
9. Fold them into a square
10. Roll into a single chapathi
11. Fry the chapathi

Badam Burfi ( Almond Sweet )

Easy to make and very tasty. Ideal sweet for a festival like Diwali

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Ingredients
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Badam / Almonds - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cup
Ghee - 2.5 cups
Milk - 0.5 cup
Saffron - a few strands

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Method
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1. Boil water and soak the almonds in hot water for half an hour
2. Peel of the almond skin and chop it into small pieces
3. Put the chopped almonds in a blender and add the milk. Make a fine paste
4. In the kadai , add the sugar and 2 tablespoon of water and allow it to become a syrup
5. Once the sugar is completely dissolved , add the almond paste .
6. Add the ghee now and then little by little whenver the mixture seems to sticking to the kadai
7. Keep stirring continuously until the mixture starts coming off the kadai without sticking. It might take around 12 minutes to reach this consistency
8. Take a plate and spread ghee all over.
9. Pour the almond mixture and spread it evenly in the plate
10. Make pieces using the knife once the burfi cools down.
11. Store it in an air tight container and it will stay good for about a week

Pudina Chutney

This chutney goes very well with Dosa / Idli / Roti.

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Ingredients
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Mint Leaves - 100 gm
Coriander Leaves - 50 gm
One big onion - cut into big pieces
One medium sized tomato - cut into big pieces
Coconut - 1 small cup
Red Chilli - 3 to 4
Salt to taste
Oil

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Method
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1. Heat a table spoon of cooking oil in a kadai
2. Add the onion and saute them until they turn transparent
3. Add the tomatoes and red chillies and fry until the tomato is finely cooked
4. Add the mint leaves n the coriander leaves and fry them for a minutes
5. Finally add the grated coconut and fry till the coconut becomes dry.
6. Allow the ingredients to cool down and then put them in a mixer to make the chutney.

Venthaya Kuzhambu

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 Ingredients
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Sundaikkai Vatral - 10 - 12 of them

Sambar Onion - 100 gm

Tomato - 1 finely chopped

Tumeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Hing - a pinch
Curry leaves
Mustard
Tamarind - lemon size soaked in water

For the Masala :

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Thoor dhal ( Red gram ) - 2 tbsp
Dry chilli - 2 to 3
Shredded Coconut

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Method
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1. Fry all the ingredients in the masala one by one in oil and make a paste of them. Deep fry the sundaikkai vatral and keep aside.
2. Heat the kadai , add oil.
3. When the oil is hot , add the mustard seeds , hing , curry leaves
4. Add the onions n fry them to golden brown
5. Add the tomatoes and fry them until they turn tender
6. add the tamarind juice , salt and allow it to boil
7. Add the ground masala to the kadai and boil until the gravy is fully done.
8. Finally add the fried vatral nad the gravy is ready .

Pal Poli

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Ingredients:
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Cashew – 1cup
Khus Khus – 2 Tblspoon
Coconut – ½ cup
Milk – 3.5 cups
Sugar – 1 cup
Maida – 2.5cups
Salt


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Method:
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1. Soak Cashew and Khus Khus in 1 cup milk for about 1.5 hours
2. Make a fine paste of the soaked cashew , khus khus and the finely grated
coconut.
3. Heat the rest of the milk , bring it to a boil and then lower the flame . Add
the sugar and allow it dissolve.
4. Add the paste to the milk and cook in low flame for about 12 min till the kheer
is ready.
5. Mix maida with a pinch of salt and make a dough . The consistency should be same
as puri dough.
6. Make small round balls of the maida and roll them into small puris
7. Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the rolled maida into puris .
8. Once cooked , drop the puris directly from the oil kadai to the kheer .
9. Allow it to cool .

Mushroom Dum Biryani

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Ingredients
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Mushroom – 200gm

Curd – 1 .5 cup

Garam Masala

Ginger Garlic paste

Chilli Powder

Cumin Powdder

Coriander Powder

Onion - 2 sliced

Tomato - 2 sliced

Mint Leaves - Handful

Coriander Leaves - Handful

Basmati / Jeera Rice - 1 cup

saffron - 4 to 5 strands

Atta for Dum



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Method
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1. Soak rice in water for half an hour and then cook the rice separately.

2. Spread the cooked rice on a wide plate and mix it with salt .

3. Clean the mushrooms and slice them each into 4 pieces

4. Heat oil in a kadai and now add the onions . Fry them till brown and then

add the tomatoes along with a little salt.

5. Once the tomato is cooked, add ginger garlic paste , chilli powder,

coriander powder , cumin powder , garam masala and cook till the raw smell

is gone.

6. Add the mushroom , the mint leaves and the coriander leaves and cook in

low flame until the mushroom is cooked.

7. Heat a tawa for about 10 min in medium flame and then reduce the flame .

8. Mix the saffron in 2 table spoons of hot water and keep aside.

9. Take a wide kadai . Spread a little of the mushroom gravy . Top it with

a thin layer of rice. Sprinkle the saffron water on top the rice. Now again

spread a layer of the mushroom gravy . Then a layer of rice with saffron

water topping . Repeat till the last. The top most layer should be rice.

10. Put the lid on to the kadai and seal the lid around with the atta

prepared. No steam should escape out of the lid.

11. Keep the kadai onto the tawa and leave for about 15 min in low flame.

12. Serve with raitha.



Optional - While cooking the rice , add cardamom , clove , cinnamon,pepper n

bay leave to the water itself to get more spice to the food

Baby Potato Fry

Baby  Potato Fry
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Baby Potatoes are a joy to cook :) They are tiny , juicy and crips when cooked.
This recipe is something I had tried to cook in my microwave .Can also be done in a kadai.

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Ingredients
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Baby Potatoes - 1 kg
Til - 1 Tsp
Chilli Powder - 3 TblSp
Garam Masala - 2 Tsp
Tumeric - 1 Tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 Tblsp
Curry Leaves
Potato

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Method
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1. Peel the potatoes and make holes in them using a fork
2. Soak the peeled potatoes in water for about 15 min . Add salt to the water
3. Take microwave cooking vessel preferrably flat.
4. Have the oven in high and microwave the till seeds for about 2 minutes so that they are roasted
5. Remove the roasted till seeds and keep aside
6. To the microwave cooking vessels , add 2 tblsp of cooking oil and add the potatoes .
7. Sprinkle salt on top of the potatoes and then toss them so that the oil and salt are moixed into the potato.
8. Microwave the potatoes on high for about 15 min to allow them to cook evenly
9. Remove the cooked potatoes and keep aside
10. Make a paste of a tblsp of oil , chilli powder , garam masala , tumeric , ginger garlic paste . Microwave he paste for about 2 min on high till they are cooked and the raw smell is gone
11. Add the cooked potatoes to the cooked masala and microwave on high for about 2 more minutes.
12. Garnish with roasted curry leaves

Vazhai Poo Vadai

Vazhai Poo Vadai

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Vazhai Poo is the flower found in the Plaintain Tree before it becomes the fruit.
This flower is big and brown in color. It has layers in it. As you remove the cover for each layer , there will be a bunch of flowers in it.
It is said to be very good for health and tastes very good.The Vazhai Poo Vadai is one of my favorite dishes which I had taken from my mom , the greatest cook I have known till now :)

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Ingredients
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Vazhai Poo - 1 medium size
Fried Dhal ( Chtuney Kadala ) - 5ogms
Red Chilli - 5 to 6
Sombu - 1 TblSp
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Curry Leaves - chopped

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Method
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1. Once the flowers are taken from the layers , they also have to cleaned.
The flowers have one trasparent portion in the lower portion and then inside them they many long tube like structures. In them , one of it will have a head portion that will be round in shape. This tube with the round head and the transparent portion in the lower part has to be removed. I have heard my mom tell that , eating with these , will cause stomach pain. Not sure abt it. But I always remove them .


2.By far, this dish requires a lot of time. Each and every flower has to be cleaned but it is worth the effort .


3. Once the flowers are all cleaned, chop them finely.


4. Boil water in vessel , add these to the water and add some salt. Allow them to cook till they become soft. Do not over cook as they might become all smashy :( and watery.


5.Once cooked strain the water and keep it aside.


6. Put the friend dhal into the mixie and make a fine powder. Then add the boiled flowers ,red chillies and churn them coarsely. Never make them into a complete paste.


7. Trasfer the ground mixture into a vessel. Add the onions , sombu , curry leaves and required amout of salt and mix them .


8. The mixture should be good enough to make balls out of it.

9. Heat oil for frying . When the oil is ready, flatten the balls and slip them into the oil one by one.


10. The vada turns brown once cooked.

11. Serve it tomato sauce .

Pineapple Gojju

Pineapple Gojju
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Until my marriage , I never knew such a dish even existed. It was once during a wedding reception dinning , I got to taste this and it was awesome. After that , I have been trying hard to make this dish the same way and here is what I have found. Hope you enjoy the dish :)
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Ingredients
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One Pineapple
8 - 10 Byadagi Red Chilli
2 Tbsp Coriander Seeds
1/2 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 Tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 Tsp Hing
1 Tbsp Urad Dhal
1 Tbsp Chana Dhal ( Kadala Parruppu )
1/2 Dry Coconut Gratings
Salt to Taste
100gms Jaggery
100gms Tamarind Water
Curry leaves
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Method
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1.Heat a tablesppon of oil in a Kadai and fry the Coriander seeds , fenugreek seeds , urad dhal,chana dhal, red chillies,dry coconut grating by adding one by one.
2. Allow the mixture to cool and make a powder out of it.
3. Soak the tamarind in warm water for about 5 to 10 min and take the juice .
4. Cut the pineapple into vertical strips . Take the middle portion of the pineapple that is not very juicy. It will be very thick and strong. Cut the middle portion into small square cubes . The juicy portion of the pineapple can be used for any other dish like salad or juice. If you want , you can keep aside about 2 tablesppons of pineapple juice to add it to the gojju

5. Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard , curry leaves , hing in the same order.
6. Then add the pineapple cubes and leave it to cook for about 5 min. Add a cup of water. The pineapple should not be overcooked.
7. Once the pineapple is cooked , add the ground paste and a little more water. Allow it cook in slow flame.
8. Meanwhile , heat the jaggery in the another vessel. Pour a cup of water to the jaggery .The jaggery would melpt and become a liquid.
9. Sieve the jaggery to remove any dirt in it . Add the liquid immediately to the pineapple gojju that is already cooking .
10. Leavin the jaggery to cool even a little , would make it very thick and hard to transfer it to the kadai.
11. Keep stirring now and then for about 1o more minutes until done.

Vazhakkai Podimas

Vazhakkai Podimas
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This recipe is a very good side dish with any of the rice dishes made at home.
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Ingredients
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Raw Banana - 1
Onion - 1 Large , finaly chopped
For Tadka :
Mustard Seeds
Urad Dhal
Chana Dhal ( Kadala Parrupu)Curry Leaves
Garnishing :
Coriander Leaves - Finely Chopped
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Method
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1. Heat water in a kadai and bring to a boil
2. Add Salt.
3. Peel of the skin of the raw banana light and cut it into 2 halves.
4. Immerse the raw banana into the boiling water and allow it took for about 8mins.
5. Once the banana is cooked , switch of the gas and strain the water.
6. When cold , the banana must be hard enough to shred .
7. Using a shredder , shred the banana and keep it aside
8. Heat oil in pan and all ingredients for tadka
9. Add the onions and fry till they are transparent.
10. Add the shredded raw banana to the fried onions and cook for 2 min .
11. Add enough salt to the above and then switch off .

Ajwain Paratha

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Ingredients:

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Wheat Flour - 2 Cups
Ajwain ( Omam in Tamil ) - 2 teaspoons
Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil as required
Salt

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Method :

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1. Mix the above ingredient with luke warm water.
2. Make medium size balls to roll the parathas .
3. Once the balls are made , roll them , apply a small spoon of ghee and fold them in a
square.
4. Make all the balls as folded squares .
5. Roll the squares into parathas .Serve Hot .
P.S. - For calorie conscious folks , use a low calorie oil instead of ghee.

Falooda Recipe

Falooda.. :) I just love to eat it .. n make it ! I love to have Falooda as my first recipe in this blog for many reasons . One being me n my hubby love it and the other being it is an all time favorite for kids .

Lets start with the ingredients :
Corn Flour – 2 cups
Jelly Packet – 1
Sugar – 1 cup
Sabjja Seeds – 2 Tables spoons
Food Colors ( Pink / Red ) - A pinchHoney
Walnuts
Red Berries – 3 to 4
Vanilla Ice Cream
Gulkand ( optional )
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Preparation:
1. Soak the sabjja seeds for about 2 hours in a cup of cold water.
2. Prepare the Jelly as mentioned in the packet. Empty the contents of the Jelly Powder to a 400ml vessel.
3. Boil hot water and add it to the Jelly Powder. Mix until the powder dissolves. Allow it to cool down for about 2 hours and then place the set jelly in the fridge .
4. Mix one and a half cup of water to 2 cups of corn flour. Heat the above mixture for about 5 minutes. The mixture starts becoming a glossy paste.
5. Take it out of the vessel and put the contents in the murrukku achu/presser/mould with small holes and start pressing. The corn flour noodles should be spread on a plate containing ice cubes. This would make the corn noodles hard and nice to eat .
6. Allow it to cool for about 10 min. Please note that the corn flour mixture should be made immediately once the mixture thickens else it would turn to very hard .
7. Take a cup of sugar and put in a kadai and start heating with ½ cup of water. The mixture should decrease in quantity and it should be a little sticky with all sugar dissolved. Switch of the stove and add the food color. Allow this to come to room temperature and then keep it inside the fridge.
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Serving Instruction:
1. Take a tall glass
2. First add a two tea spoons of sabjja seeds
3. Add 1 teaspoon sugar syrup
4. Add 1 teaspoon of corn flour noodles
5. Add Vanilla ice cream – 2 to 3 Spoons
6. Add 2 spoons of honey
7. Add the Jelly on top of the ice cream
8. Add some walnut , gulkand and red berries for garnish


Falooda is ready to eat … !

So Let's Eat..

Hungry is it? and you are in Bangalore.

Dont worry madko bedi. Enjoy Maadi... ( The only two kannada type sentences NK folks try talking).

Chinthe beda. Adige ready agidhe is as we would mention it.

We are people who love some real goooooooood food...

whether at home or outside, day or night, exotic or traditional, chinese or pizza, south india or north indian..

Proud to get the recipe from Old Grandma ..

Exciting to download from the New Internet..Try it out and see how it boils out from your kitchen.

The office lunch group/guests gets to taste it and appreciative( some egoistic :-) ) of the culinary skills .

Husband hogging with content and happiness.. All this is great to see.

As mentioned before,, when you in Bangalore and exhausted with lots of work or need to try something new.

Just pick out the car or the phone. Pizza at your doorstep or drive into thindi beedhi.

Enough to increase the concavity of the tummy and convexity of the eyelids.. Eat Heavy and Sleep Tight.

Thot of pumping in these thots about the food we try cooking and eating in this hogging phase of our life.

Giving a preface or a start with this small blog will hand it over to my sweeter half (wife) to do more of the talking.

Ofcourse recipes and the experiences to follow from here. Health Titbits and review of eateries as add on.

So Let's Eat..

And Yeah.. don't miss two main ingredients in food -- pinch of salt and lots of love..