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Two Cultures and Two Kinds of Dumplings (Mix Veg Tawa Fry wi
2006-12-02 15:06:25
Mix Veg Tawa Fry with Methi Muthia, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.I must admit this was a dish cooked totally on the spur of the moment. It was Sunday, a day when everyone at home wants to eat something different than everyday cooking but also a day when I experience some kind of inertia which makes me feel extrenely lazy. Come to think of it I would happily live on Toast and Coffee on Sundays , but the husband loves to eat all kinds of tasty food. Poor guy has to eat a packed lunch everyday at work, so obviously he prefers a nice leisurely lunch on Sunday with at least one unique item on the menu. So it was this wish of his 2 Sundays back that motivated me to make this. Its a very simple recipe which looks as if it has taken a ling time to make. But no. I am not one to toil over the stove for hours together to produce one dish. So here's how you go about it:For the Muthia:I followed the recipe for the Muthia word to word from Tarla Dalal's Book "Roti-Subzi " which my dear fri...
More About: Culture , Cult , Cultures

Baked Potato Paneer Tikki
2006-12-02 15:06:25
Baked Potato Pane er Tikki, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.This was just an experimental trial I had where I baked these Tikkis (Cutlets) instead of frying them and I must say they did come out much better than I had anticipitated. The whole recipe was not just these tikkis but it was Paneer Tikki Chaat which I followed from Tarla Dalal's Book "Chaat". But I could not take any pics of the entire dish put together as I was busy playing hostess when my friends were gorging on it. But fortunately I had some unfried tikkis left which I baked the next day instead of frying them. So I thought I would post these at least.You can find the entire recipe for Paneer Tikki Chaat on Tarla Dalal's site. I'll just share with you the way I made the tikkis which are a little different than her's . Ingredients for around 12 tikkis: 4 large potatoes 100 gms paneer grated or crumbled (indian cottage cheese)1/2 cup green peas boiled and coarsely mashed3 tblspns cornflour2 slices of bread (soaked i...
More About: Baked

Ooh i just love this Guessing Game!!! These are Honey Roaste
2006-12-02 15:06:25
All of you got the caramelized part correct but no one guessed the fruit correctly. Well there are apple slices. I simply peeled and cored the apples ,so the slices look like pineapple slices. I saw these being made by Gary Rhodes on UKTV Food. It was part of the Celebrating Harvest Time episode in which he demonstrated some easy and simple recipes using local produce. And as apples are the most widely grown fruit in the UK , Apples it was. In fact according to Gary Rhodes there are 3000 varieties of apples grown in the UK alone. Amazing isn't it?Well my son was watching the show with me and insisted that I make these as soon as the show came to an end. They are the simplest thing to make and very delicious indeed. Caramelised apples are good to eat on their own or great with Vanilla Icecream, or Cool Custard, or simply Whipped Cream.What you need:For 6 slices:2 sweet apples peeled cored and sliced thickly into rings1tblspn butter2 tblspn Honey Honey Roasted Apples, originally uploa...
More About: Love , Just , This , Game

anu's photocards
2006-12-02 15:06:25
Hi Guys! Hope you all had a fantastic Diwali. My Diwali was spent keeping two very active under 5 year -olds out of trouble and stopping them from constantly bickering with each other. Yes my little sister was here for Diwali with her little one . I hardly made any Diwali stuff and will make it this week. So don't laugh if I post Diwali recipes after Diwali.Sisiter just left yesterday and I miss her already. Feeling very lazy today and just cannot bring myself to cook anything. I have been sitting in front of the comp and tinkering with the photos I have clicked in the past. I just made a few photocards with them. I think its a nice idea to send these to people on occassions. Take a look.
More About: Photo , Card , Cards , Toca

Sweet Semolina with a Touch of Saffron (Food Fit for the Go
2006-12-02 15:06:25
Sweet Semolina with a Touch of Saffron , originally uploaded by Anupama 72.Its amazing how sometimes the most obvious choice of food is right in front of you and you are racking your brains to come up with a good idea. This happened to me when I read about the Festive Food Fair hosted by the lovely Anna of Morsels and Musings. When I first read the word Festive it conjured up in my mind all the food that we Indians make at Diwali, but then I thought " Oh! but everyone has already blogged about it very recently. So it won't be anything new" In the last few days while cooking at home my thoughts often strayed to what I would make for the Festive Food Fair but kept drawing a blank. Another small problem was that there is no upcoming special occasion or festival that my family and I celebrate atleast till coming January. But the solution came to me through a very cute request made by my 4 yr old son. He has a major sweet-tooth and makes such requests now and then which I sometimes fulfi...
More About: With , Sweet

Two Cultures and Two Kinds of Dumplings
2006-12-01 17:02:09
Veg Chinese ManchurianVeg Manchurian, originally uploaded by Anupama 72. Now before I give the recipe there is one thing that I would like to tell you all. This Manchurian is a total indianised version of the real Chinese dish. I am sure no one in China has ever eaten this unless they have come to one of the indian metropoles and visited a road-side chinese stall . These chinese stalls (at least the ones I have seen in Pune) have really fantastic names like Kung Fu Chinese , Wild Dragon Chinese or something like Great China Darbar. Now why a chinese eatery has to be called a Darbar is beyond me. To add to the authentic feel of the eatery the owner of the joint hires all chinky eyed waiters who resemble the chinese but are probably from Assam or Mizoram come to the big cities in search of work. But the fact remains that most of these joints serve great tasting food. It is spicy and can be ordered with as much chilly as you like. And hereI have tried to capture all those flavours. I ...
More About: Culture , Cult , Cultures

Wish You All A Very Happy Dassera
2006-12-01 17:02:09
With warmest wishes to all my Bloggo-Buddies. have a Very Happy Dassera. Leaving you a taste of the Amrakhand I have made to celebrate Dassera.
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Masoor Palak Medley spiced with Garlic (A very light Veggie
2006-12-01 17:02:09
Masoor Palak Medley, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.This weekend was one devoted to hogging everything in sight. It started on Friday evening itself when I had friends and their kids over for a high tea. I made Paneer Tikki with Chole,(It was all eaten up before I could take any snaps), Banana Muffins and Yummy Biscuit Rolls. Everyone loved all the goodies. We had the leftovers as Saturday Brunch. On saturday a friend invited us over for a sleepover and made a very delicious continental meal of Oat Cakes topped with grilled Chicken and drizzled with garlic sauce from the Schwartz range. This was accompanied by sauted Vegetables and mashed potato. Yum Yum Yum!!!. I even had 2 glasses of wine. Then dawned Sunday, a beautiful sunny and cold crispy day. We all went for a nice drive and ended up at a cute little pub called The Bell Inn. So lunch there was Smoked Haddock and Mozarella Fish Cakes drizzled with Sweet Chilli Sauce. I even managed to polish off some Brownie and Vanilla ice...
More About: Garlic , With , Spic , Light , Spice

Spicy Lemon Rice: Meals from Leftovers:2
2006-12-01 17:02:09
Lemon Rice , originally uploaded by Anupama 72.Hallo people! The rice you see in the pic is made from leftover rice and the easiest and tastiest thing to russle up for a quick and filling breakfast. The recipe below is for 2 cups of leftover rice. All you need is:2 cups leftover rice, 1 onion finely chopped, 6/7 curry leaves, 1tspn mustard seeds, 1/2 tspn cumin seeds, a pinch of asafoetida(hing), 1tblspn urad dal(split black lentils), 2tspn peanuts, 2 tblspn green peas(optional), 2 green chillies slit lengthwise, 1/4 tspn turmeric, 2 to 3 tblspns lemon juice, 3 tblspn oil, coriander to decorate. Procedure:Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds begin to pop add the hing, cumin seeds , curry leaves,green chilies, urad dal , peanuts ,green peas ,turmeric powder and the onions and saute for a few minutes until the onions are soft.Next add the rice and the lemon juice and stir everything well. Add salt to taste. Decorate with chopped coriander. Serve hot
More About: Lemon , Left , Spicy , Spic

Rice Dhokla (A Delicious Light Snack)
2006-12-01 17:02:09
Rice Dhokla, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.Hi everyone!! This Dhokla is the lightest dhokla (light in texture and light to digest) I have eaten till date. I have followed the recipe partly from the Marathi Cookbook :Swayampaak by Sindhutai Sathe and partly from a recipe that my mom follows. This is one book I use the most and it has seen me through those early years after my marriage when I was a total trial and error cook.What you need:1 cup Rice (uncooked), 1/4 cup Urad Dal (split black lentils), 1cup sour curd, 1 tspn salt, 1/2 tspn sugar, 1/2 tspn corasely ground pepper.For the tempering:3 tblspn oil, 2 tspn mustard seeds, 7 to 8 fresh curry leaves, a small pinch tumeric powderProcedure: Soak the rice and dal together for atleast 4 hrs. After 4 hrs grind the rice and dal to a fine paste. Leave this mixture for another 4 hrs in a warm place. It does not need to ferment like the idli batter. After 4 hrs add the curds, salt, sugar and pepper to the batter, and mix well. Add jus...
More About: Rice , Light , Snack , Delicious , Deli

A Dieters Delight (Veg Clear Soup)
2006-12-01 17:02:09
A Diet ers Deli ght, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.Between me and my husband it is I who should be counting calories and checking my weight every few days. But that is not how it is. It is my husband who is calorie conscious and somewhat of a fitness freak. Every few days he has a guilt trip if he has eaten more than he should at a meal or has had even as much as one glass too much of coke.When he is on one such guilt trip he calls me from the office and asks me to make him a very light supper.So last week when I was away at a birthday party and he was going to be alone for supper I made him this soup. (Btw I had Pav Bhaji , birthday cake, and coke at the party)Its light but very wholesome and yummy. Even my 4 yr old will happily slurp on it.(Btw I had Pav Bhaji , birthday cake, and coke at the party)What goes in it:1/2 cup each of the following veggies diced:carrots, peas, spring onions, cauliflower, cabbage sweetcorn or baby corn, french beans.2 cloves garlic crushed2 tblspns oi...
More About: Soup , Light , Clear

Is this a Bakery or a Candle Shop?
2006-12-01 17:02:09
I visited this candle shop in Interlaken (Switzerland) on my vacation and was stunned to see some of the wax creations the lady had hand-crafted. I asked her permission to take a few pics so that I could share them with you guys. Take a look. These goodies look so real.
More About: This , Shop , Bakery , Candle , Baker

Thursday Tip of the Week No 8
2006-09-14 22:31:00
Hi all ! My tip this week is related to white coffee/tea mugs , cups and saucers. Now plain white crockery particularly white coffee mugs are not really a favourite with me . They are the kind you see in restaurants and hotel rooms ,but those are the ones I use currently as my landlord stocked the cupboards with the kind . The problem now is that after using them daily for tea they developed tea stains which wouldn't go after washing the mugs. But now I have a solution. And by solution I really mean a solution of water and Harpic White Bleach. Yes the trick is to add 2 capfuls of Harpic white Bleach (or similar bathroom bleach) to half a bucket(about 5 litres ) of water. Immerse all your cups , mugs and saucers in this solution in the bucket overnight. The crockery comes out pristine clean the next morning. All the stains are gone. Just wash all the glassware with warm soapy water the next day before using it to get rid of any mild bleachy smell that might linger.No, the bleac...
More About: Week , Thursday

Thursday Tip of the Week No 7
2006-09-07 16:03:00
Hallo people, the tip this time is for keeping your flowers fresh for a long time. There are two things you can do:1. Add a tblspn full of sugar and a tblspn of salt to the water in the vase (i.e. about 1 lt of water. Increase quantities of salt and sugar for more water)2. Otherwise you can simply drop two aspirin tablets to a vase full of water.I have tried both these tricks and I found that flowers stay fresher for at least a week longer than normal.
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Thursday Tip of the Week No 5
2006-08-24 10:33:00
Hi people! Thursday is here and so am I with my tip. The vegetable you see in the pic below is one of my favorites. Yes Butternut Squash it is. The only thing that stops me from buying it sometimes is the fact that it is so difficult to peel and cut. Sometimes I feel I'll break all my knives and cutters in this pursuit. But the problem has been solved . What you do is just cut the butternut into two pieces horizontally and then pop both the pieces into the microwave. Setting should be high and time taken is one min. Change the position of the squash after 30 secs. After 1 min remove the butternut and let it rest for few seconds. It is the easiest thing to peel and cut after that. Try it. I grated this squash for a raita today .
More About: Week

Jhatpat Chiwda
2006-08-20 16:08:00
OK now what do I say about Chiwda. For once I am lost for words. I mean there is so much to say about this snack that I just cannot say enough. Chiwda for a marathi person is not just a snack, its something very close to his heart, it is I would say a significant icon of maharashtrian culture. I would go one step ahead and say that every single maharashtrian person loves chiwda in some form or the other. And believe me there are a lot of types of Chiwda. Chiwda in its simple form is eaten as a daily evening snack with tea whereas the fancy chiwdas are made durings weddings and festivals like Diwali. And the best chiwda is the one made at home. As a child and even today my favorite pastime is to read a good book and gobble bowls and bowls of freshly made chiwda along with it. I remember my mother made tons of it and it was all gone in a couple of days. So you see I have to share with all you something that I love so much.Very Simple Ingredients:250 gms thin flaked rice (Poha)1/2 cup ...

Happy Birthday Vaishali!!!!
2006-08-17 12:37:00
Yes everybody ! It is Thursday the 17th of Aug and Vaishali's birthday today. Yes the same Vaishali (of Happy Burp) we all know who has shared with us innumerable scrumptious recipes and tantalised our senses with beautiful photographs. I am sure all of you would love to join in to wish her a Very Happy Birthday . And thats your cake Vaishali. Its not a show stopper where looks are concerned ,but where taste is concerned it is a winner. I made this delicious Banana Cake specially for your birthday,but I'm going to have to cut it and......eat it too. Sorry about that. Here's how I made it:100 gms soft butter,175 gms caster sugar2 eggs well beaten2 ripe bananas mashed225 gms self- raising flour1 tspn baking powder2 tblspns milk1 tspns vanilla essenceProcedure:Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg c.Prepare your cake tin by greasing it with butter and then dust it with flour.Sift the flour and the baking powder together at least twice.Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl for about 2 mins u...
More About: Cakes , Hali , Happy Birthday

Crispy Spicy Aubergine Slices
2006-08-11 18:49:00
Now Brinjal or Aubergine, like it is stylishly called now a days even by people who have called it Brinjal all their lives ,is something that as a child I was forced to eat by my mother. She cooked it in all possible interesting ways but even then it was something that I dreaded eating.It made me go green in the face. One fine day she made these crispy brinjal slices and told me to imagine that I was eating fried fish(which was my favorite) and then eat them. But clever and smart (read over-smart) that I was , I asked her whether she would eat fried fish imagining that it was brinjal (she is a pure vegetarian) . My mother, if I remember correctly, just left the room. But that was then. Slowly as a teenager and later in my 20s I developed a liking for this vegetable though still not in all its forms. But it was only after my marriage when I ate similar slices made by my MiL that I really began loving this dish and now I prepare it quite often .Hope you guys like it too. Simple Ingred...
More About: Spicy , Slice , Cris , Berg

Thursday Tip of the Week No 4
2006-08-10 10:47:00
The tip this week is related to home decoration. I made this floating arragement with flowers leftover from a wilting bouquet .Some of the flowers in the bouquet were very fresh even though most of the bouquet had dried up. I just didn't have the heart to throw away the fresh ones.The idea is to place one such arrangement:: 1.Outside your house on the doorstep when you are expecting guests , 2. In the centre of your dining table when you are entertaining and have buffet spread,3. Or just as a coffee table arrangement on festivals or special occassions
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Coconut Ladoos with a touch of Saffron Part 2
2006-08-08 17:05:00
All my dear Bloggo-o-buddies, right now I am confusion personified. The recipe of the coconut ladoos I posted along with the picture and the other info has just disappeared into thin air. And for some wierd reason Blogger refuses to edit my post. So I had to create an entirely new post for the recipe.I made these ladoos for Narali Poornima .It is the festival celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Shravan when all the fisherfolk worship the ocean with offerings of coconuts. Its that time when the south west monsoon is supposed to abate and the fishermen can cast their nets in the seas again and trade resumes again. For foodies like me it means preapring some sweetdish with coconut as one of the chief ingredients.Here's how I made themIngredients:3 katoris coarse semolina1 coconut grated (or 2.5 katoris dessicated coconut flakes)1/2 katori milk1/2 katori ghee (clarified butter)For the Sugar syrup:1.5 katori water2.5 katoris sugar1 tspn saffron1 tspn cardamom powder1 tblspn ...
More About: Saffron , Coconut , Part , Touch , Ouch

Thursday Tip of the Week No3
2006-08-03 10:47:00
Hallo people! I am back and this time it is Cool Minty Cubes I have for you. I made these mint cubes for a drinks party at home last week and they were well apprecaited, so I had to share them with you. I just put one leaf of fresh mint in each of the ice tray pockets and then filled the tray with water. These cubes look particularly pretty when put in fresh lemonade. Just put one or two cubes per glass , so that when they melt there is only one or max two mint leaves at the bottom of the glass. Lemonade with a touch of minty fragrance is very refreshing. With carbonated drinks they go well with Sprite and Bacardi Lemon Breezers. I also made a few cubes with coke . I hate it when my coke becomes all watery due to the ice. And coke cubes solved the problem.
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Tip Of The Week No2
2006-07-27 10:39:00
Not Ice-Cubes but Spice Cubes Hi , here I am back with my Thursday tip No 2.The small cubes and the large triangular blocks that you see in the pic above are what I call my spice cubes. The small ones are ginger cubes and the large blocks are frozen blocks of fresh tomato puree. I make these every 2 weeks and use them in all my curries and gravies. They really speed things up when actually cooking. You can make similar cubes with garlic paste and grated fresh coconut. Add a little salt to the ginger and garlis pastes before freezing and they keep for months in the freezer. I use small ice trays which I got in Ikea. So each ginger or garlic cube is equivalent to 1 tspn of paste and each tomato puree block is made from 1 large tomato.
More About: Week

Tip Of The Week
2006-07-20 18:46:00
Hey all Blog-o-Buddies . Starting today I'll be posting a useful tip every week on Thursday. You might know some of them already or you might never have heard some. The tips will be mostly pertaining to cooking and the kitchen, but I might squeeze in a couple of tips which might help you in your work in the rest of the house too. Anything that will appeal to the Domestic Goddess in you and make your Godly Tasks easy.Okay here goes:Do you buy jaggery (unrefined palm sugar) in the form of a block and find it tiresome to break it down into smaller pieces. Well just pop the entire block into your microwave and set the microwave on the medium setting for 20 secs (when doing it for the first time keep a close watch on the block because every microwave will operate differently) When you remeve the block it will still look like it did before you put it in. But if you gently press it down with your palm it will easily crumble into a heap. If it doesn't crumble easily just pop it back into ...
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MIX VEGETABLE PARATHAS (PURNA PARATHAS) I got t...
2006-07-14 17:34:00
MIX VEGETABLE PARATHAS (PURNA PARATHAS)I got the idea of making these parathas from a marathi T.V serial I used to watch regularly back home in Pune. The scene was such that a newly wed girl tries her hand at cooking and makes mixed veg parathas (she calls them Purna Paratha s : Purna meaning Complete in marathi) for everybody in her new home and how at first they turn up there noses at eating something so alien to them but after the first bite they are all gaga about it and cannot stop singing their praises. Well I hope you people will also go gaga over my recipe. It is completely my creation and it is a very wholesome dish that can be eaten as breakfast, lunch or supper. well here goes:Ingredients needed:For the outer cover of the parathas:3 cups wholewheat flour, 2 tspns salt, 1 tspn fennel seeds powdered(optional), 1 tspn turmeric powder, 1 tspn chilli powder 2-3 tblspns oil.For the stuffing:2 large potatoes boiled and mashed, 1 carrot grated, 1 onion grated, 2-3 cl...
More About: Potatoes , Vegetable

Aaloo Methi Fry
2006-07-05 16:59:00
Aaloo Methi Originally uploaded by Anupama Puranik. A Family FavoriteIngredients:8 Baby Potatoes 1 cup green peas boiled2 tblspns Kasoori Methi1 large tomato pureed1 onion chopped2 tspn cumin seeds (jeera)2tspn Dhana jeera powder (cumin and coriander powders)1/2 tspn garam masala3-4 tblspns oilProcedure:Peel the potatoes, prick them with a fork and boil them in salted water until cooked but firm. drain the water and keep the potatoes aside.Heat the oil in a pan (Kadhai), add the jeera and fry for few seconds. Then add the chopped onion. Fry the onion till golden brown. Next add the kasoori methi and fry again for a few minutes. Now add the tomato puree and fry till the oil separates. Add to this the garam masala, the dhana-jeera powder and chiili powder.Mix the masala and the powders well and again fry for one minute.Lastly add the boiled potatoes and the peas to the mixture and stir them in gently. As the potatoes are bolied in salted water check the taste before adding more salt.Gar...