Krishna Jayanthi & Vinayaga Chathurthi Celebrations - 2009

Both Krishna Jayanthi and Vinayaga Chathurthi are special this year, since this is Thaswika's first festivals. Both the days, she kept me engaged;)



Our little Krishna idols. My MIL was there for Krishna Jayanthi, so she did everything on that day. She made Vadai and payasam.


You can check the recipes in the below links:
Vadai
Payasam


Now to Vinayaga Chathurthi celebrations:



Thaswika kept me busy on that day, she was litte cranky, so was with her till 2 pm. After that I started my cooking and had lunch around 5 pm :(

So didn't do much items. I made rice, capsicum sambhar, dal, potato peas masala, vadai, sweet kozhukattai and salt kozhukattai.

Filling of sweet kozhukattai was left over. So I added rice flour to it and steamed it. It was very nice. Usually, I wont do this, since, once the dough became watery for me. But this time, it came out well.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1 cup

Jaggey (Palm sugar) - 1/2 cup, powdered

Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Salt - a pinch

Ghee - 1 tablespoon

Method:

Fry coconut in ghee to golden brown and allow it to cool.

Once it is cool, add powdered jaggery, rice flour, salt, cardamom powder to it and mix well to a thick dough.

No need to add water, since ghee and jaggery will make it watery.

Make small balls or any desired shapes and steam it.

Tasty sweet kozhukattais are ready.

Cooking time : 20 minutes

Serves 3 persons

Will post the recipe of potato peas masala soon.

Sending this sweet kozhukattai to Priti and Purva's Festive Food Event .

Prawn Gravy - Chettinad style and Awards

I always love chettinad cuisine and tried this gravy with Prawns. Followed the recipe of Chettinad chicken gravy which I posted previously.

Given the recipe once again:

Ingredients:
Prawns - 250 gms (Peeled, de-veined and washed)
Small sambhar onions - 15-20, chopped.
Tomatoes - 1, big sized, chopped
Garlic - 6-7 cloves, finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 teaspoon
Grated coconut - 3 tablespoons
KhusKhus - 1 teaspoon or cashews - 6-7
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 2
Bay leaf - 1
Aniseed - 1
Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil - 2-3 tablespoons

For Masala Paste:
Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoon
Red chillies - 6
Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon - 1 small piece
Cardamom - 1
Clove - 1


Method:
Dry roast all masala items and grind them to a fine paste with little water and keep aside.

Grind coconut, KhusKhus/cashews and fennel seeds to a fine paste with little water and keep aside.

Heat pan and add oil. Once it is hot, add bay leaf, cinnamom, aniseed, cardamom, cloves and fry for a minute.

Then add ginger garlic paste, and saute for 5 mintues. Add curry leaves, onions, chopped garlic and fry for 10 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes and saute until they are cooked. Add prawns, with turmeric powder and saute nicely until all water evaporates.

Then add the grinded masala powder, salt to taste, mix well for 5 minutes and add 2-3 cups of water and close the pan.

Cook for 10 minutes or until prawns are cooked.

Open the lid, add grinded coconut paste. Check the gravy consistency and adjust water and salt to taste.

Mix well and bring it to a boil. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.


Cooking Time : 45-60 minutes
Serves 4 persons

----------------------------------

Now to awards:

Sailaja and Sireesha have given me Scrumptious Blog Award:


It is a blog award given to sites who:

* Inspire you
* Encourage you
* May give Fabulous information
* A great read
* Has Scrumptious recipes
* Any other reasons you can think of that make them Scrumptious!

Thank you so much friends!!!
You guys have inspired and encouraged me!!!


The rules are:
- Put the logo on your blog or post.
- Nominate at least 7 blogs
- Let them know that they have received this Scrumptious award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

I am not going to nominate anyone, as I got inspired from so many blogs. Every blogger deserves this!!! I request all my friends to pick up the award from my blog!

Baby Corn Manchuria and Awards

Was busy creating a blog for Thaswika. Its in process and hang on until I complete :)
I made this baby corn manchuria last week, since my MIL loves it.

Here goes the recipe.....

Ingredients:

For Deep frying:
Baby corn - 10-12, cut into small pieces
Maida or all purpose flour - 1 tablespoon
Corn flour - 1 tablespoon
Split chickpeas powder (Kadalai mavu/Besan) - 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder - 1-2 teaspoons or Green Chilli paste - 1-2 teaspoons or pepper powder - 1-2 teaspoons
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Milk - 1/4 cup
Garam masala powder - a pinch
Oil for deep fry

For Saute:
Onions - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
Capsicum - 1, chopped
spring onions - A bunch, chopped
Green chillies - 2-3 cut into 2 slices
Garlic - 2-3 cloves finely chopped
Tomato sauce - 2 tablespoons
Chilli Garlic sauce - 2 tablespoons
Butter/Ghee/Oil - 1-2 teaspoons
Salt a pinch
Coriander leaves - few

Method:
Deep Fry:
Boil 4 cups of water with little salt. Wash baby corn, cut into pieces and soak in boiling water for 15-20 minutes.

Mix maida, corn flour, chickpeas powder, ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, salt in little milk to make a thick paste.

Drain water completely from soaked pieces. Toss the pieces in the paste.

Heat Oil in a pan and deep fry until they are crispy. Keep them aside.

Note:
Broken Corn flakes or bread crumbs can also be added to the paste, so that it will be more cripsy.


Saute:
Heat oil. Add chopped garlic, onions, green chillies and fry until onions are golden brown.

Then add capsicum and fry until they are cooked. Add spring onions and salt to taste.

Add tomato sauce, chilli garlic sauce and saute it for 1-2 minutes until all gets mixed well.

Then add fried baby corn pieces and toss them well. Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve hot.


Cooking time : 45 minutes
Serves for 3-4 persons


--------------------------------------

Now to the awards:

Shama and Sashi passed me with "Kreativ Blogger" award.

Priti showered me with "Kreative Blogger Award", "I love your Blog Award" and "One Lovely Blog Award".

Thank you so much friends:) It really boosts me UP!!!

The Kreativ Blogger award are having some rules …

You must thank the person who has given you the award.
Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated

I pass these awards to 7 creative bloggers and I love their blogs.

Sailaja http://www.sailajakitchen.com/

Sanghi http://sanghi-tastybites.blogspot.com/

Chitra http://anyonecan-cook.blogspot.com/

Ramya http://ramya65.blogspot.com/

Shama http://easy2cookrecipes.blogspot.com/

Sashi http://www.sashirecipes.com/

Valar http://valar-myblog.blogspot.com/

Enjoy Friends. Ignore if you have already received it and published about yourself.

So 7 things about myself.. Already published this, doing it again with small changes.....

- Native of Chennai, India, presently staying in Singapore for the past 4 years.
- Physics graduate and Masters in Public Administration & Computer Applications.
- Have 9+ years of IT experience and currently a full time home maker.
- Like to do creative things, Surfing, Blogging, Music, Reading, trying new recipes.
- Have so many good friends .... Love them all..... Life is EMPTY without them.
- My favourites are Lavender colour, Jasmine smell, Raw mangoes with salt and chilli powder ;), Ice Lemon tea, Crunchy bites from KFC ;), Love to explore new places, and many more.... whatever came to my mind, I have mentioned.
- Trustworthy, Friendly, Very possessive especially towards my hubby:), Can't take when loved ones lie or ditch me, Tense up quickly.

And here are the answers for the tag I received from Priti:

What is your current obsession?
Taking good care of my little angel, Thaswika

What are you wearing today?
White and Blue nighty

What’s for dinner?
Fish curry and prawn gravy (Leftovers from yesterday ;) he he)

What’s the last thing you bought?
Big knife for cutting pizza

What are you listening to right now?
Tamil lullaby songs

What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Lovely person, we shared a lot .... now become busy as she got married and I got my little angel. Again we started recently:)

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Singapore

What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Sun screen lotion, cotton clothes, cap, coolers

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Tioman islands, Malaysia

Which language do you want to learn?
Mandarin and French

What’s your favourite quote?
Write your bad things on water, Write your good things on stone - My dear friend Rev, told me this recently when I was so depressed....

Who do you want to meet right now?
Shah rukh Khan - just to tell him not to worry ;)

What is your favourite colour?
Lavender

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?
My black pants, few nice tops given by my hubby and my dad.

What is your dream job?
Own a company

What’s your favourite magazine?
Champak, Chandamama, Gokulam, Tinkle and many more ......

If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Buy some clips, earrings, etc.... long time I haven't bought any ;)

What do you consider a fashion faux pas? (faux pas mean error in etiquette.. )
Wrong dress for a wrong place

Who are your style icons?
As of now, none

Describe your personal style.?
Simple

What are you going to do after this?
Cooking

What are your favourite movies?
Mozhi, Taare Zameen par, Black, Swadesh, Kal ho naa ho, Alvin and chipmunks, Bommarillu, Pasanga ....... keeps changing

What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?
Compact, Perfumes (any good one), Maybelline Rose Jam Lip colour

What inspires you?
Encouragement, soothing words

Give us three styling tips that always work for you:
Be simple, good for our health and expenditure ;)

What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?
Buy new ones

Coffee or tea?
Mostly coffee, sometimes Tea

What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Read books that change my mood, if not cry ;)

What is the meaning of your name?
Saraswathi - Goddess of knowledge

Which other blogs you love visiting?
So many can't list....

Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Gulab jamun, rasamalai, Milk Khoa

What's the best feeling?
Motherhood

Who do you love most and why ?
Of course my hubby and he started sharing with my little angel too. I love him because I love him, this is what I say when he asks WHY I LOVE HIM ;).... he he

Reason(s) for you to blog?
Changes my mood, interesting and keeps me busy.

Sundakkai Vatha Kuzhambhu (Turkey Berry Curry)

Thaswika had high temperature yesterday because of her vaccination. Though it was normal, I got tensed up seeing her cuddled in my lap. Temperature got reduced from midnight and got a relief after seeing her smile. She was too tired today and streching her legs straight as though asking me to massage her as it was paining for her:)

Coming to the recipe, I got this from one of my school friend. Love this with curd rice. I am OFF from the kitchen for the past 2 months;) these were tried before my delivery:) Until my MIL stays with us, I would be posting my old dishes ;)

Ingredients:
Dry Sundakkai vathal (Dried Turkey Berry) - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1, medium sized chopped
Red chillies - 4-5
Garlic - 5 cloves
Uzhuthu (Black gram dal/Urad dal) - 1/2 tablespoon
Curry leaves - few
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Asofoetida powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1 tablespoon
Tamarind - lemon sized
Rice flour - 1/2 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Oil - 2-3 tablespoons

For powder:
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
Lentils (Toor dal) - 1/2 tablespoon
Split Chickpeas (Channa dal) - 1/2 tablespoon
Fenugreek - 1 teaspoon
Garlic - 5 cloves

Method:
Heat pan and fry coriander seeds, channa dal, toor dal and fenugreek for 10 minutes.

Dry grind them with garlic and keep aside.

Soak tamarind in 1-2 cups of water, extract juice and keep aside.

Heat oil in a thick pan and allow mustard seeds to splitter in it.

Add urad dal, garlic, onion, curry leaves, red chillies and fry until onions turn golden brown.

Then add sundakkai vathal, grinded masala powder, asofoetida powder and fry for 10 minutes.

Add chilli powder, tamarind juice, salt to taste and allow it boil.

Dissolve rice flour in 1/4 cup of water and make a thin paste.

Add this to the boiling curry and stir continuosly.

Switch off the flame once it is thick.

Serve hot with plain rice or curd rice or idli or kal dosai.


Cooking time - 40 minutes
Serves 3 persons.

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY :)

"In loneliness, in sickness, in confusion-the mere knowledge of friendship makes it possible to endure, even if the friend is powerless to help. It is enough that they exist. Friendship is not diminished by distance or time, by imprisonment or war, by suffering or silence. It is in these things that it roots most deeply. It is from these things that it flowers."
-Pam Brown


Dedicating this post to all our friends who lent their hands wide with love and care when we were in a tough time.... You don't know your worth, ask us we will tell you!!! Thank you FRIENDS!!!

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!!!