A New Venture & Few Awards

I was away from active blogging for one week and sorry friends that I missed out many of your recipes. Trying to get hold of everything very soon.

I just forgot about facebook n blog n twitter n orkut and was completely into my new project - Crocheting. The craziness that we show, when we re-start doing something  after a long time. I am pretty sure that I'll be back to my routine, of course charting a separate slot for crocheting too. Just can't wait to show you few pics of my project on its way - The clicks are not up to the mark as I shot them late night. Shall have a detailed post with the guide and measurements and better clicks as soon as I finish it.

It is so sweet of my friends, that they passed me few awards. Thanks a lot dear friends, for choosing me. Ayesha of  'Taste of pearl city' passed me the "Loving Blogger Award "

As per the rules I have to share this with three other fellow bloggers. I've chose
1. Adukkala Visheshams : They have a wonderful blog with variety of recipes. I love the way they explain each recipe
2. Shab's Cusine: Whenever I visit Shab's, I bookmark one recipe there. There are many in my bookmarks and I'll be trying out each and everyone. Her recipes reminds me of the food I used to have from friends place (May be nadan muslim food) and I love them. She has a wonderful space with amazing clicks. I love the initial write up there and the way she explains the recipe with exact measurements. 
3. Collaborative Curry: I started following them very recently and I am really sad that I missed it till now. But I am now browsing through their archives for the wonderful and delicious recipes they have in their space. I love their simple template and their awesome clicks get a great background there.

Neethu of 'Kitchen Express' and Sree of 'Sree's Recipes' passed me the versatile blogger award. 

As per rules I have to pas sthis on to next 15 fellow bloggers. I would like to pass this awards to :


Sarah of Vazhayila
Maya & Lakshmi of Yummy Team
Suji & team of Kairali Sisters
Suja of Kitchen Corner
Mallugirl of Malabar Spices
Nisha of Look who's cooking too
Maria of Maria's menu
Manju of Mirch Masala
Beena of My kitchen
Suhaina of My Singapore kitchen
Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
Vrinda of Sankeerthanam
Varsha of Will-O-The Wisp
Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes
Chaithra  of Aadhithyam

I would have listed all the fellow bloggers if I had an option.

Tomato Rice & An Award

Though weekdays and weekends don’t make a difference, I am very lazy to cook on weekends; especially on Sundays. The Monday blues for AJ (yes.. my hubby..) starts right from Sunday eve and may be he transfers me a share J. That ends up in either tomato rice or curd rice in the lunch box for Monday.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice                           --    1 cup

Water                                     --    1 ½ cup (Might change depending on the quality of the rice)

Tomato                                   --    2

Onion                                     --    ½ of a medium size

Green Chillies                         --    2

Ginger garlic paste                  --   1 tsp

Cumin seeds                           --   1 tsp

Turmeric Powder                    --   ¼ tsp

Chilly Powder                         --   ½ tsp

Garam Masala                        --   ¼ tsp

Curry leaves                           --   1 spring

Oil                                         --    2 tbsp

Salt                                        --    to taste

Preparation of Tomato Rice:

Wash the rice and soak it in water for 20 min.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and let it splutter. Now add the sliced onions, green chillies, curry leaves and ginger garlic paste. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the cubed tomatoes and cook on a low flame until the tomatoes are smashed. You can also use tomato puree instead of whole tomatoes.

Once the tomatoes are smashed, add salt, turmeric, chilly powder and garam masala. Fry until the raw smell goes off.

Add the drained rice and fry for a min. Then add water and mix it well. Close with an air tight lid and let the rice cook. If the water is of the correct quantity, the rice will be cooked perfectly in another 15 – 20 min. You can sauté in between to make sure that rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

 

Optionally, you can cook the rice separately and add the cooked rice to the masala. I do it this way; cooking the rice in the rice cooker, when I am lazy. This saves time and you do not have to keep your eye on the rice in the pot.

Serve hot with raitha.

Nithu of Nithu’s Kitchen conducted a guessing game and she awarded me for guessing the items in her ‘Best Out of Waste’ bouquet. Thanks a lot Nithu and sorry for being late to post this here in my space. The game was interesting and I shall definitely contribute towards the event following the game.

Mathan Erisseri / Pumpkin with Red chori & my first award

My all time favorite. Even my hubby’s… This is one among the very few veggie curries he have without any reluctance. I knew that Erisseri was one among the items for sadhya but did not know what it was. I realized very late that Erisseri is the same as what we call as “mathanum payarum” at homeJ. We have sadhya only when we go for marriages and then, I was never interested to know the names of the curries served. The mission would be to finish the meal soon, that too only half the stomach and wait for different kind of payasams JJ.

Ingredients:

Vanpayar / Red Chori        --    ¼ cup

Mathan / Pumpkin             --   250gm

Green Chillies                       --   3 - 4

Turmeric powder               --   ¼ tsp

Pepper powder                   --   ½ tsp

Cumin seeds                         --   ½ tsp (optional)

Mustard seeds                     --   ½ tsp

Red Chillies                           --   2

Curry Leaves                       --   few

Shredded coconut              --   ¾ cup

Oil                                          --   2 tbsp

Salt                                        --   to taste

 

Preparation of Erisseri:

Soak the vanpayar in water for 8 hours/overnight. Cook the vanpayar in a pressure cooker and keep aside. Normally it takes 3 – 4 whistles to get this cooked.

Grind ½ cup of coconut with a pinch of turmeric powder & cumin seeds and keep aside.

In another vessel, cook the pumpkin with salt, turmeric powder, pepper powder and green chillies.

Smash the pumpkin once it is well cooked. Add the ground coconut mixture, cooked vanpayar and let it boil. Add more water if required.

Meanwhile heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the red chillies, curry leaves and the left over coconut and fry until the coconut turns golden brown. Add this mixture into the boiling curry and mix well.

Serve hot with rice.

Maya & Lakshmi of YummyOYummy, Suja of Kitchen Corner -Try it , Kairali Sisters and Ammu of Nature Kitchen have tagged me for my first award. Thanks a lot to Yummy Team,Suja, Kairali sisters and Ammu. As per the rules, I have to tag other blogger friends and post my favorite pics.

I love to share this with Shabs of Shab's Cuisine, team of Adukkala Visheshams, Priya of A Feast for the Mind.....Manasinu Oru Sadya, Yasmeen of Health Nut, Superchef of MirchMasala, Vrinda of Sankeerthanam, An open book of Look Who's cooking too.

I am posting 2 pics, stolen  from my hubby's blog JJ