WTML-March 2013

Dear Readers,

I am back with an event announcement called WALK THROUGH MEMORY LANE and to give a giveaway. This event was started by Gayathri from Gayathri's Cook Spot in 2011. 

As the name says its something to be cooked which our ancestors/elders viz., grandmom, mother, mother-in-law, dad or even spouse and so on used to prepare. Its a great occasion to remember them with their recipe and enjoy the same with our family/friends.

Rules:

a. Usage of logo would be great as it helps to spread the word.
b. While posting the recipe please give a link to this page and Gayathri's Announcement page.
c. There are no restrictions for the number of new entries.
d. If you are linking an archived entry, please update it with the link to this page.
e. Only two entries from the archives are accepted.
f. Only Vegetarian recipes accepted. Eggs not allowed.
g. Non-Bloggers can also send in their entries by sending the recipe to hemasrini.2007@gmail.com. I will include it in the round up.
h. Posts can be linked using the linky tool at the end. 
i. Gayathri will select an entry through random selection and give away the book for the selected entry. I request all my readers to help me in making this event a huge success.
j. Note that the books Gayathri gives are not sponsored and it is her own contribution to the event. You get a whole year's subscription of Tarla Dalal's Cooking and More as the giveaway. I am not eligible for the give away.



On the first of April, Gayathri will select a lucky winner and send a mail. After receiving her mail,you can give an address to which she has to ship the book. She will ship the book within India so if you reside abroad, please give an address in India for her to ship.

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Jan13-CWL-Spouse

Dear Readers,

Belated Pongal Wishes.

Spouse is very special person who comes into our life after a wonderful union called as marriage. A person who will be with us to share our joys, sorrows, feelings and most of our life. 

Are you wondering why I spoke about Spouse in this post? Absolutely, its my new event called "Cooking with Love - Spouse", which is a guest host event started by Saraswathi Iyer @ Sara's Corner.

RULES 

1. Post any vegetarian recipe from starter to desserts between Jan 15th to Feb 15th 2013 with this event announcement. 

2. Please link your entries below, and if you have any problem do drop in an email at hemasrini.2007@gmail.com with your entry.

3. Non-bloggers too can participate in this event, send in your recipe by email to me with a photograph.

4. Archived entries are accepted only if you repost with this event announcement. Multiple entries are accepted.

Feel free to leave your comment. Let us check out who were involved in other Cooking with Love Series.

Looking forward for your support and participation. 

Cheers

Hema

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Jan13-Cloves-SYF-HWS-Series

SYF&HWS - CLOVES - EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello Friends/Readers,

I wish one and all a PROSPEROUS & HAPPY NEW YEAR.

After a long break I am back to guest host Anu's SYF & HWS COOK WITH SPICES EVENT. I have selected CLOVES as my spices.

CLOVES can be used to make either sweets or in savories. It is used as a medicine in reducing tooth and gum ache. 

The clove comes from the Myrtaceae (myrtle family). It is a distinctive species that has a pleasant smell. The clove on its own has quite a strong aroma. When you taste it, it has a burning flavor. The reason for the strong smell and taste is its contents. Essentially, its oil is the chief content. Up to 15% of the clove content may be oil, and of this quantity, eugenol makes up 70 to 85%, eugenol acetate makes up 15%, and β-caryophyllene makes up another 5 to 12%. This comes to around 99% of the oil, while another 1 or 2% is made up by triterpene oleanolic acid. Source: Recipes Wiki.

Below are some of the recipes using cloves from tarladalal:

Cloves for controlling cough
Grilled Cheese and Vegetable Soup
Handi Khichadi
Malai Cauliflower
Paneer In White Gravy
Pearl Pullav
Mee Hoon
Garam Masala
Coconut Stew
Rice and Curry Sizzler

So why wait make some exciting from cloves and include it here.

Rules that are mandatory:
Send in any dish that use cloves before February 5th.
Use of the logo is mandatory.
Email me your link and the picture of the food to hemasrini.2007@gmail.com by February 5th.
Archieved entries are accepted but needs to be reposted.
Non bloggers can also email me the recipes with your recipe pictures.

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Black and White Wednesday - August 29 - Week 47

Black and White Wednesday - August 29 - Week 47:

Susan, authoress of the well-seasoned cook blog was lining up the hosts some time back. I was impressed to see the hosts lined up. On her confirmation hosting Week 47's BWW for this week.

Was on rest for 3 months as I underwent few surgeries. Kick started today after seeing the mails sent from BWW-Week#47 participants.

Before posting it let me tell you the importance of these two colors "Black" and "White".

Source: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html

Black:

Black is the color of authority and power. It implies submission. It is popular in fashion because it makes people appear thinner. It is also stylish and timeless.

White:

White symbolizes innocence and purity. White reflects light and is considered a summer color. White is popular in decorating and in fashion because it is light, neutral, and goes with everything. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility.

Don't miss Week #48 - BWW which is at Tomato Blues hosted by Anusha. Send in your entries to anusapraj AT gmail DOT com

Coming to BWW Week#47 entries which are as follows:

Blogger Name: Elizabeth
Blog Name: Blog From OUR Kitchen
Picture Name: Copper Bowl
Sent Date: 23-Aug

 

Blogger Name: Simona
Blog Name: Briciole
Picture Name: apples and peppers at the farmers' market
Sent Date: 26-Aug

Blogger Name: Madhu
Blog Name: The Melting Pot
Picture Name: Dumplings Savory
Sent Date: 27-Aug

Blogger Name: Siri P
Blog Name:  Cooking with Siri
Picture Name: Roadside Bhajias
Sent Date: 27-Aug

Blogger Name: Cinzia
Blog Name:  Cindy Star Blog
Picture Name: Coco Rouge Beans
Sent Date: 27-Aug

Blogger Name: Hema
Blog Name:  Hema's Adugemane
Picture Name: 
Sent Date: 29-Aug

Blogger Name:Anh

Blog Name: A food lover's journey

Sent Date: 29-Aug

Thanks to all who made me feel great by sending in their photos.

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Tea Powder from Tea Leaves

Tea from Tea Leaves:

When we went to Ooty, we went to Tea Factory on 18th May which showed us how to make tea powder from tea leaves. If I would have been a child, might be I would told just bring the leaves grind it and then powder it, we have tea leaves. -:). 

A plucker picks the fine tea leaves and brings it and puts in a big place from where the crusher takes the leaves, crush it and send it for powdering.

Tea Leaves in B&W

Tea Leaves in Color

 Here is the videos taken in the tea factory to show how tea powder is made.

 

Submitting this post to a Weekly Event.

Event Name: Black & White Wednesday - #35

Duration: Every Wednesday

Venue: A Wandering ladle

Hosted by: Sihi

Series was started  by: Susan @ the well seasoned cook.

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Corn

Corn:

I was wondering if at all I have to write a simple post, then what it could be? Here was one remaining in my draft since a long time.

Due to hectic work pressure and sick health I thought of writing into my blog atleast on Tuesday and Thursday. 

Tuesday because I have become fond of Black and White Wednesday started by Susan and this week, which is Week #34 is going to be hosted by Sra on her blog "When My Soup Came Alive". The theme of this event is, whatever picture you send should be related to food but in black and white. Really the picture if taken in a beautiful camera then B&W pic also looks beautiful.

Corn in Black & White

Black and White are the two colors which are opposite in nature. Former absorbs more radiant energy than the latter one and thus the cooling is affected. (Source: Physics@Littleshop) Compared this with life, some situations are cool enough to handle while some are very tough to deal like the exam starting day and the ending day. Starting day would be very tensed for average students like me :) but on the last day of the exam when it is over, "hurray, a big dance". But indeed it was great to be a student than a working professional :(.

If you remember, B & W TeleVision was launched first then they switched over to Color Television. For more information, kindly read wikipedia.

Ingredients:

Frozen Corn - 100 gms (store one)

Butter - 1 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Salt - 2 tsp

Chaat Masala - 1 tsp

Water - 2 cups

Method:

Remove the frozen corn and allow it to come to room temperature.

Boil water and when it is completely hot, simmer the stove and steam the corn in a colander by keeping it on top of hot water for 10 to 15 mins

Once it is done, add butter, red chilli powder, salt and chaat masala mix it well

Serve it, they tasted lovely and my kids was tempted by the taste

Submitting this to:

Event: B & W White

Frequency: Weekly on Wednesday

Venue: When My Soup Came Alive

Authoress: Sra

Started by: Susan @ The Well-Seasoned Cook

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Okra Fry - South Indian Veg Thali

Okra Fry - South Indian Veg Thali:

April and May are special months in our house, As April has got Ugadi and my beloved hubby's birthday on April 24th. On this same day, Master Blaster, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and well-known Kannada famous Actor Late Mr.Rajakumar's Birthday.

Aadya tasting his cake before he cut

Aditya - Aadya - Birthday

Our Family in Ooty

On May 5th it is my first son, Aditya's Birthday and on 6th my second son, Aadya's Birthday. This year the former turned 9 and the latter turned 1. But the celebration was very normal :(. This year we celebrated both of our sons birthday on 6th May and there were our family including our in-laws and our elder sister-in-law and their family.

On May 13th, my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law wedding anniversary. They completed 38th anniversary this year. Mother's day was also fell on the same day.

 

One more thing is my little sister-in-law who stays in Vizag had come down to celebrate her summer vacations along with their children and hubby for 5 days and we all had been to Deccan Plaza, Ooty Veg Resort called as Olives, is a Multicuisine Veg Resort but which was well sophisticated with maximum facilities. Hence the months, April and May is really special to us.

Elder SIL family

Younger SIL family

Recipe introduction:

South Indian Thali

South Indians have more rice compared to North Indians, and a South Indian Veg Thali definitely consists of poriyal, sambar/pappu, rasam, curds and rice. I have two fries instead of poriyal in this Thali.

My thali comprises of:

Rice

Pappu

Rasam with Dhal

Carrot Poriyal

Finger Chips

Okra Fry

Curds

In this post, I am speaking about Okra Fry.

Ingredients:

Chopped Okra / Bhindi - 2 cups

Vinegar - 1 1/2 tsp

Urad Dhal - 1 tsp

Channa Dhal - 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste (2 tsp)

Red Chilly Powder - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - few

Okra Fry

Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

Heat wok/kadai with oil in that

Add mustards to it and allow it to splutter, followed by urad dhal and channa dhal Add vinegar to the mixture and immediately add Okra  to the oil and fry them well

Finally once you feel Okra is crispy or it is done, add salt and red chilly powder and mix well

Serve as part of your thali

Note: Vinegar was added to retain the shape of the bhindis. Learnt from my hubby.

Submitting this post to:

Event: BWW-#33

Frequency: Weekly on Wednesday it will get published

Venue: Sara's corner by Saraswathi Iyer 

Started by: Susan.

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Tags are great in Google Plus

Tags are great in Google Plus:

This post is to tell you that my dear friend Meena, who writes Random ramblings :) has tagged me in her post Let's get Tagged !!!

http://cityplusepaper.jagran.com/c/175890

Here I should speak about myself, but before that I want to congratulate Meena for her award on account of Mother's Day celebration at Mumbai from Chef Amit Puri, corporate chef,  Pan India foods . For more info, on this read here. Definitely a pic of her's is shown here:

Congratulations dear friend, I am really pleased to see you win a prize and great you took part in this special event. Hats off to your family who supported you to participate in this event. Hope you enjoyed your Mother's day. Meena is from Mumbai and I am Bangalore, thanks to blogging world who brought both of us close to each other.


RULES for tagging:
1. Post the rules.
2. Answer the questions set for you in the tagger's post and create new set of eleven questions.
3. Tag atleast eleven people and link to them on your post.
4. Let them know you have tagged them.

Now to my answers

1. Introduce yourself

I am Hema, an IT professional in Software Testing and Quality Assurance field since 9 years.

I am a mom of 2 sons one who has completed 8 years and other has just completed his one year. Strange is, their birthdays are celebrated back to back on May 5th and May 6th.

Aditya(8) Aadya(1) Bday

2. What's your favorite hobby or how do you love to enjoy your time?

My favorite hobby is blogging, and commenting on others blog.

3. When it comes to blogging, how supportive are your family members?

After entering into blogging world, I have learnt Plan is definitely required even in cooking like my testing world. This has made me to learn right from basics.

My family members now are able to eat my food but they are still against my blogging. But really one day, this will change.

4. What's is your fav. food?

Anything made out of Fruits are my favorite but I doesn't love to have them directly.

5. What inspired you to create a blog?

My cousin, Saraswathi Iyer of Sara's Corner and my friend Divya of Divya-Dilse who writes blogs are my inspirers.

6. How do u feel while u get an award /Tags from other blogger friends?

Tremendous, because my friends remembered about me and passed an award momentously.

7. Talk about food photography..do you judge a recipe by the photo posted by the bloggers? and when searching for a recipe in a search engine like Google, do you look for just recipe or look by images?

I am trying to become at my clicks nowadays. Yep at times I judge by the photo but most of the time it goes with the taste they had brought it in that recipe.

While searching in google I do either ways.

8. Have you tried recipes from other bloggers? What's the result?

Wow, this is an ultimate question. I have got a chance from Radhika of Tickling Palates once in a month which brings the famous monthly event Blog-Hop-Wednesday, in which we have to cook a recipe from our partner's blog. Yummy the taste is really fabulous.

9. How happy you will be in getting a comment for your recipe?

Comments are always a way to get feedback. I love reading comments so only my comments are moderated.I have improved from the healthy comments I have got from my valuable readers.

10. How about taking part in events hosted by other bloggers?

This is a challenging one, I have taken part in many events which has given me good friends and new dishes.

Now I would love to tag the following friends :-

1. Radhika of Tickling Palates
2. Saraswathi Iyer of Sara's Corner
3. Divya of Divya's Dilse
4. Sumee of Sumee's Culinary Bites
5. Simona of  Briciole
6. Roshni of Roshni's Kitchen
7. Maha of Mahas Lovely Home
8. Vidhya of Sugar'N'Spice
9. Jayasri Ravi of Samayalarai
10. Jagruti of Jagruti's Cooking Odyssey
11. Sangeetha Vijay of Spicy Treats
12. Priya of Now Serving
13. Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes
14. Vaishali of Ribbons to Pastas
15. Preeti of Preeti's Kitchen Life

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PaneerMintTikka

Paneer Mint Tikka:

I am really happy to be a part of Magic Mingle - 5 which is a monthly event started by Kalyani on her blog, sizzling taste buds. Paneer has always been my favorite recipe but nowadays I have to cut down due to my weight. Fortunately, today in Spar Hypermarket at Koramangala, Bangalore I found "Tofu - Paneer" written as "Low Fat", wow, it was a real surprise, yet it might add some more calories, but once in a while it is considered, according to me.

Regarding  Spar Hypermarket I can tell you only one thing, I am amazed by the way we can save using Spar both on grocery bills and on medical bills. Spar gives the best deal and offers, so we save on grocery bills while it gives the best product so we save on medical bills. It works accordingly to its tag line "Live Life Better". You can directly walk into Spar to find out the difference in shopping. I have seen 3 shops of them in Bangalore viz., Koramangala near Sony World Signal or Depot, Jayanagar near 4th block complex, and one in Malleswaram near Mantri Mall.

I have been to Barbeque Nation atleast for 3 to 4 times and my starter with paneer would be Paneer slightly roasted and served with Green Chutney (i guess the green should be mint and coriander leaves chutney), which is called as Paneer Tikka. As I had to planned to prepare it in microwave, I tweaked Grilled Paneer from my source, Vegetarian About.com.

Coming to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Tomato - 1

Paneer - 100 gms

Curds - 1/2 cup

Pepper Powder - 2 tbsp

Salt - 1 tbsp

Mint leaves - 1/2 bunch

Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Method:

Extract the puree from tomato

Add curds, salt and pepper powder to it and check if all the proportion are correct

Smash mint leaves nicely and add it to the above mixture

Mix the mixture well by adding lemon juice

Break the paneer into 1" each and marinate it in the above mixture for 1 hour or above. I marinated it for 2 hours.

Take out the paneer from the mixture and prick it in tooth pick and microwave it for 2 to 3 minutes

Serve it with the same mixture or sauce

Submitting this to Magic Mingle @ Sizzling Taste Buds. Sizzling Taste Buds was also called as itsnotmadrasi.blogspot.com. Kalyani is from Bangalore but currently living in Mumbai, which is India's commercial capital.

My previous entries for Magic Mingle are:

Alammurabha-Feb2012

WheatBreadCornSunaunde-Mar2012

Chocolate-Carrot&Raisin-Apr2012

 

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