Modak, Boorelu, Panchakhadya & Nugul-Untallu ~~ IC Challenge & Celebrating First Blog Anniversary

Voila!! already its one year of blogging..i cant even believe that today am celebrating my first year blog anniversary..I should really say a big thanks to each and everyone who stopped by and left so many encouraging words which really increased my energy level to post my non stop recipes..During this one year in blogsphere, i learned so many things especially visiting so many blogs, learning many cuisines, got introduced to many friends, improved many techinical stuffs..I had a wonderful year in this vast blogsphere..

In this one year, am almost nearing to my 700th post also hosted many events, won some cookbooks, been tagged and awarded by many blog friends..Big thanks to my family members,without them nothing is possible and definitely nothing is possible without my regular followers & friends...Am celebrating this first blog anniversary with you all with some delicious Ganesh Chathurthi sweets which i prepared for Indian Cooking Challenge as challenge for this month of August..

Modak from Maharashtra:
Stuffing:
2 cups freshly grated coconut
1 cup jaggery (grated)
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp cardamom powder
one pinch nutmeg (optional)
2 tbsp water


Cover:
1 cup rice flour
1.25 cup water
pinch of salt
1 tbsp oil

Preparation for Stuffing:
Roast poppy seeds in a small skillet and let it cool down. Grind it coarsely and keep it aside.
In a heavy bottom kadhai mix all the ingredients for stuffing except poppy seed powder and let it sit for 15 min. Now start heating the mixture over medium heat. In about 10-12 minutes, the mixture starts boiling and stuffing will turn yellowish brown and will be sticky. Take the kadhai off the heat, add poppy seeds powder and mix well. Set it aside to cool down.


Preparation for cover:
Take vessel that has tight fitting cover. Start boiling water in that vessel, add salt and oil. When water starts boiling, lower the heat and slowely add rice flour. Please do now dump everything at once. Start mixing vigourously with a heavy spoon. Now close the lid and take the pot off the heat. Let the covered pot cool down for 15 minutes or so. Then with wet hands, mix the dough properly. It will warm so be careful and use cold water to keep your hands from burning but do not use too much water.


Making Modak :
Start boiling water in a large vessel that can fit a steamer. Oil the steamer and set it aside.Make about 20 balls of the dough and 20 parts of the stuffing. Start making small puri with the dough ball on a oiled paper/aluminum foil. Keep one part of stuffing in the middle of the puri and gather the puri gently to make shape like modak with modak mould.Now dip each modak in cold water and put it in the steamer. Put the steamer on boiling water and cover it. Let themodaks steam for 20 minutes on medium to high heat. Take the steamer off the vessel and let it sit for 5 minutes before removing moodak from steamer.

Boorelu from Andhra:
For the outer layer:
Black gram dal/ Urad dal - 50 gms

For the Filling:
Bengal gram/Channa dal - 1 cup
Grated Jaggery - 1 cup
Fresh grated Coconut - 1/4 cup (opt)
Cardamom powder - 3/4 tsp
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method to prepare:
Wash and soak Urad dal for 4-5 hrs. Place in a big vessel as it will expand after soaking.

Then drain water from the Urad dal and grind to fine paste adding very little water. The batter is almost like the thick dosa batter before you make dosas. Add salt and leave it aside covered.

Pressure cook the channa dal with just enough water to cover it. Even if excess water is there, you can always use the water for chaaru. But less water is better.Cook the jaggary to remove any scum. Then once the dal is well cooked, drain and cook it along with the jaggary. It should become very soft enough for you to mash well. Add Cardamom powder and grated coconut, when the dal starts to leave the sides its done.

Remove and cool. Divide them into equal balls.Heat a thick bottom kadai for frying. Once the oil is hot, turn to sim. Then dip each ball in the Urad dal batter. Then gently drop them into the hot oil. Turn and cook on all sides. Once couple of batches are done, strain the oil to remove the scum.It hardly takes more than 2-3 mins to get cooked. Drain them on to a kitchen towel.

Panchakhadya from Maharashtra
1 cup grated dry coconut (i used dry roast grated coconut)
4-5 tbsp powdered sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds
4-5 dried dates
1/2 tbsp cardamom powder
4-5 tbsp coarsely powdered mixed nuts (almonds,cashews, pistachios)
pinch of nutmeg powder


Dry roast grated coconut on a very light heat and set aside..dry roast poppy seeds and grind them coarsely after cooling them for 5 minutes...take the seeds off the dried dates and grind them coarsely as well. Mix all these ingredients and nuts powder, cardamom, nutmeg, powdered sugar together..Panchakhadya is ready...

Nugul-Untallu from Andhra:

100gms Sesame Seeds

3tbsp Grated Jaggery

Wash the black sesame seeds and dry it over a towel or else under sun..dry roast the sesame seeds and keep aside, grind together the sesame seeds and jaggery...make 12-15balls from this mixture..

Spicy Potato Thokku

U would have prepared potatoes as podimas, roast or masala, but as thokku??.. yea this potato thokku was one of my first cooking experience and this potato thokku tastes between spicy potato roast and potato masala coz the ingredients i used in this dish, almost goes for the ingredients we usually used to prepare either roast or masala...I can definitely say that i was the one who created as i prepared this dish without any knowledge..I prepared this dish accidently before long back...At that time, i was doing my college and my mom went to grandma's village urgently for some family problems and she left us without preparing anything for our lunch.. While doing my college in pondicherry i'll go to my college, only for afternoon session in a famous Women's college so without wasting my morning time i'll go to stitching class, shorthand class and typewriting class..i usually start my daily classes from 9am and will come back home only at 11am every day..

On that particular day, i came back earlier from my stitching class and my dad asked me to prepare lunch, i was really surprised and shocked when dad said that mom went urgently to grandma's village, anyhow i took really our lunch for a challenge and went to prepare rasam, as i  know how to prepare rasam coz  my mom usually have a box of home made rasam powder..without any problem i prepared immediately rasam and kept rice in pressure cooker, while for side dish i want to prepare something special with potatoes as we love potatoes much..i really want to make out potato roast and started the cooking 1kg of potatoes in hot water, and i started chopping onion, tomatoes,also prepared ginger garlic paste, fresh coconut milk etc..I started peeling the cooked potato skin and smashed it and i sauteed onions, tomatoes and ginger garlic paste and cooked until the raw smell goes away, then i added the smashed potatoes with red chilly powder,salt and coconut milk , i cooked everything very fast.. but instead of getting potato roast i got a mushy potato roast..I served this mushy potato roast with rasam to my dad..he had his lunch very happily,and he said that he was very proud for my cooking and he went out...after hearing my dad's words, i was really excited and kept aside a large bowl of this potato roast for my mom.. but she started scolding once she saw that large bowl of potato roast as i wasted all the potatoes she left in her vegetable basket.. I still remember how she scolded me for that mushy potato roast...I slowly learned cooking from my mom, now cooking was one of my passion and really enjoy cooking variety of dishes..Am sending this spicy potato thokku which really took an important place in our menu to Shama's First Cooked Food Experience Event also to Viki's Side dish for chapathis...

2nos Potatoes (big)
1/2cup Onion (chopped)
1no Tomato (chopped)
1tsp Ginger garlic paste
1/2tsp Fennel seed powder
2tbsp Coconut milk
1tsp Red chilly powder
5nos Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Heat oil in a kadai and add the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, saute for a while and add the ginger garlic paste, fennel seed powder, saute until the oil get separates, meanwhile cook the potatoes and smash them slightly..

Add the smashed potatoes, red chilly powder and salt to the cooking masala and cook everything in simmer for few minutes with lid closed , add the coconut milk and curry leaves to the potatoes..cook the potatoes until the oil get separates..

Serve this potato thokku as side dish for rice and rotis..

Eggless Indian Custard, Cauliflower Walnut Cream & Rizogalo (Greek Rice Pudding) - T&T from A Life(Time) Cooking

Tried & Tasted event goes to Ganga's A Life (Time) Of Cooking which has been selected by Yasmeen of Health Nut for this month of August..I never went to this wonderful blog before, thanks to Yasmeen for introducing this wonderful blog, which have really  a lovely collections of delicious dishes and fantastic collections of beautiful clicks..While browsing through Ganga's blog i have completely fallen in love to this fabulous blog and i was really confused to try and taste some of her beautiful dishes, but finally i went for 3 of her yummy dishes..These three dishes was completely very easy to prepare and very flavourful, healthy, simple and incredibly delicioussss....U will definitely surprised to see the ingredients in Eggless indian custard which goes for chickpeas flour, making out custard with chickpeas flour is completely possible and i was very curious to try out this custard, needless to say this eggless indian custard was terribly delicious and the cauliflower walnut cream tastes amazing and healthy which need very less time as cauliflower florets gets cooked very easily, while coming to rizogalo, greek rice pudding such a creamy, flavourful and mouthwatering dish suits marvellously for a rich desserts..Tempting dishes rite!!

Eggless Indian Custard: U can find the Original recipe here
1cup Milk
1tbsp Chickpeas flour
2tbsp Grated Jaggery
1tbsp Ghee
Few cashew nuts
Few raisins
1/4tsp Cardamom powder
Few saffron strands

Let the saffron strands stands for few minutes in few tbsp of milk, heat the ghee and fry the cashewnuts and raisins until they turns golden brown..add the chickpeas flour to the same ghee and roast until the aroma comes out..add the saffron strands to the milk to the roasted chickpeas flour along with grated jaggery and cardamom powder, stir continously until the mixture turns as custard, finally add the fried cashewnuts and raisins, serve!!

Cauliflower Walnut Cream: U can find this recipe here
25nos Cauliflower florets
1no Onion (chopped)
1+1/2cup Vegetable stock water
1cup Milk
10nos Walnuts (chopped)
Salt
Pepper powder
Few walnuts for garnishing

Bring boil the vegetable stock water with cauliflower florets, chopped onion in medium simmer flame and cook until the cauliflower turns soft..add the milk and walnut pieces to the cooked cauliflower and blend as smooth soup..Heat again and add enough salt and pepper powder according to ur taste, serve hot with chopped walnuts..

Delicious creamy soup!

Rizogalo (Greek Rice Pudding): U can find this recipe here
1/2cup Short grain rice
3cups Milk
1/4cup Sugar
1no Rosemary sprig(small sprig)
1tbsp Orange rind
1tbsp Custard powder
2tbsp Milk
Few nuts
Pinch of cinnamon powder (optional)

Combine together the milk,sugar, orange rind, rosemary sprigs and heat in medium high flame..stir the milk continously until the sugar gets dissolved..meanwhile wash thoroughly the rice and add the washed rice to the boiling milk and cook in simmer by stirring occasionally until the rice gets well cooked..remove the rosemary sprig, orange rind..make a paste with custard powder and milk, add this paste to the cooking rice..stir until the pudding get thickens..

Serve hot , warm or cold with few nuts and cinnamon powder..

Zwiebelkuchen Mit Hefeteig (German Onion Pie)

Dont ever try to pronounce the name of this dish, its really very complicated,also very long...I prepared this german onion pie for our yesterday's dinner, which i came across here..This onion pie is made with a yeast dough which ressembles very much like the pizza dough and this dough turns out really crispy while baking in oven and they wont overwhelm the toppings which happens quite whenever u make out pies with pastry sheets..This Zwiebelkuchen is served during cold weather and this pie contains mainly sliced onions, cream, egg and caraway seeds, some onion pies are mostly prepared with ham or bacon with onions but i didnt used ham or bacon in this german onion pie..If u are nt able to do the dough , u may go for storebought pizza dough which may definitely suits well too, am going to try next time with storebought pizza dough since this pie tastes too delicious and the storebought pizza dough may help u to prepare this delicious onion pie very easily if u r in hurry..Obivously this zwiebelkuchen mit hefeteig goes to AWED-German guest hosted by Lakshmi, event started by DK...

Pie Dough:
2cups Flour
1tbsp Dry active yeast
1tsp Salt
1cup Luke warm water
Few drops of oil

Take the flour, yeast, salt in a large bowl, gradually add the luke warm water and turn it as soft dough, if the dough is sticky,add few drops of oil and turn them as dough, keep this dough in a warm place for an hour with lid closed until they double their volume..

For Filling:
5nos Onions (white or yellow,sliced in lengthwise)
1tbsp Oil
1cup Fresh cream
1no Egg
1/2tsp Pepper powder
1/4tsp Caraway seeds
1/4tsp Nutmeg powder
Salt

Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the sliced onion until they turns transculent but not brown, meanwhile beat together the fresh cream, egg, pepper powder, caraway seeds, nutmeg powder and salt as smooth cream and keep aside...Preheat the oven to 350F..

Punch down the dough and roll it as round disc, place the dough in a round baking mould or pie mould, pick the dough with fork..now spread evenly the sauteed onions and pour the spiced cream over the onions and bake the pie for 40minutes or until the top of the pie turns golden brown..

Enjoy this flavourful and delicious onion pie with Gurkensalat (German Cucumber Salad)...

MW Carrot Pulao, MW Aloo Matar Gobi Masala, MW Badam n Pistachio Phirni & Carrot n Coconut Halwa

Wat a long title na!!yea i have prepared everything sterday as i had sudden visits of few of my friends..we met after a long and had a great time before going to start our routine life from next week onwards..yea!! summer vacations almost comes to an end and next week is going to be very hectic.. school going kids and working moms are getting ready, while some french peoples starts their summer vacations in September..Yet to go for an year...coming to this lovely and delicious spread of dishes, i prepared almost everything in microwave as my friends wanted me to sit and chat with them instead of spending more times in cooking..I really realized that cooking in microwave oven doesnt need that much attention and u can really spend lot of time with ur guests since our indian dishes really need to spend more time in ur kitchen... Also cooking through microwave oven all these dishes hardly needs two r three times stirring process and once u set the cooking time, ur dishes turns out very much prefect and delicious as we do in stove top..My guests loved all these delicious dishes and relished each and every spoons of carrot n coconut halwa & badam n pistachio phirni..before starting cooking my menu list went for vegetable pulao, aloo masala and carrot halwa, but once i started cooking in microwave oven, i went on preparing all my dishes really with different ingredients..Vegetable pulao turned simply as carrot pulao and the simple aloo masala went for aloo matar and gobi masala...Also initally i want to prepare just a sweet,but finally one of my french friend asked me to prepare carrot halwa and i prepared it with some fresh grated coconut...And Lata Raja's MW Phirni tempted me and really pulled me to prepare phirni with badam and pistachio nuts coz i was really curious to prepare this phirni as she prepared in microwave oven..Thanks Lata for sharing this microwave version of phirni..

Microwave Carrot Pulao:
2cups Basmati rice
3+1/2cups Water
1tbsp Oil
2nos Carrots (chopped finely)
1nos Onion(chopped finely)
1/2tsp Pepper powder
1/2tsp Cumin powder
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1/2tsp Whole cumin seeds
1tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt
2tbsp Oil

Wash thoroughly the basmati rice, take together the rice, water and oil in a large microwave safe bowl and cook in microwave for 20-25minutes high(stir in between), u will definitely get prefectly cooked basmati rice, keep aside and let them cool..Heat the 2 tbsp of oil and whole cumin seeds together for 2 minutes in high, now add the chopped onion, slit opened green chillies with salt, cook in high for 10 minutes...Add the chopped carrot pieces with pepper powder, red chilly powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder to the already cooked onions and cook again for another 10 minutes in high until the carrot pieces get cooked well (stir in between)..Now add the already cooked rice to carrot masala,add enough salt if needed and toss them gently,cook again in high for 5 minutes..Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot..

Microwave Aloo Matar Gobi Masala:
2nos Potatoes (chopped as cubes)
1/2cup Green peas
10nos Cauliflower florets
1no Onion (chopped)
1no Tomato (chopped)
1tsp Ginger n garlic paste
2nos Whole spices (bayleaves, cloves, cinnamon sticks)
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/4tsp Garam masala powder
5nos Curry leaves
1tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt
Oil

Cook the cauliflower florets with pinch of salt and water in microwave bowl for 5minutes high, strain the excess of water and keep aside, cook the green peas and potato cubes with 1/4tsp salt and water in microwave oven for 5minutes high..drain the water and keep the veggies aside...Take a large microwave bowl and heat the oil with whole spices for 3-4minutes until they turns brown, add immediately the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, ginger n garlic paste, curry leaves and cook in high everything in microwave oven for 15-20minutes (stir twice in between) until the tomatoes turns mushy and raw smell goes away...now add the red chilly powder,garam masala powder, curry leaves and salt, cook for another 5 minutes high and finally add the already cooked cauliflower florets, green peas, potato cubes, give a stir and cook for 15 minutes until the veggies get well cooked or until the oil gets separates, add the chopped coriander leaves and serve hot...

Microwave Badam N Pistachio Phirni:
2cups Whole milk
2tbsp Raw rice
7nos Whole Almonds
10nos Pistachio nuts
1/2cup Sugar
Few saffron strands
1/4tspCardamom powder
1tsp Ghee

Soak together the raw rice, badam and pistachio nuts for half an hour, meanwhile heat the milk in deep microwave bowl in high for 5 minutes (give a stir in between), grind the soaked rice and nuts as fine paste..add this grounded paste, ghee, sugar to the hot milk and cook in high for 10minutes in microwave oven (stir twice or thrice in between)..Add the cardamom powder and saffron strands and cook for 2 minutes in high..Phirni is ready to serve..

Carrot N Coconut Halwa:
1cup Grated carrot
3/4cup Grated coconut
1cup Milk
1/2cup Sweet condensed milk
1tsp Cardamom powder
10nos Cashew nuts
1tbsp Ghee
Almond flakes

Heat 1/2tsp of ghee and roast both the grated coconut and grated carrot together until they shrinks,fry the cashew nuts in remaining ghee and keep aside.. bring boil the milk and condensed milk together, now add the already roasted coconut and carrot mixture to the boiling milk and stir continously until the mixture turns as halwa, finally add the cardamom powder, fried cashnew nuts and garnish with almond flakes..

Enjoy!!!

Toor Dhal Idlis

Protein rich breakfast with plenty of nutritious values which suits tremendously to start our hectic day..I have crossed this toor dhal idlis at Pavithra's space while am searching for something new for our breakfast as my H was really bored of usual idlis..To change our usual breakfast i tried out this toor dhal idlis and served with hot and spicy Chettinad curryleaves kuzhambu which was quite a delicious pair to these toor dhal idlies..Am gonna try Pavithra's toor dal idli upma today with some leftover toor dhal idli batter...I followed everything as per Pavithra's instructions to prepare this protein rich toor dhal idli except i have added few tempered spices to enhance the flavour, thanks a lot Pavithra for sharing this soft and delicious toor dhal idlis..Am sending this idlis to EC's WYF-Breakfast and to Shanthi"s State Specials..

3cups Idli rice
1+1/2cup Toor dhal
1/2cup Urad dal
Salt
1/2tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1/2tsp Channadal
5nos Curry leaves
1/4cup Onions(chopped)
1tbsp Oil

Soak urad dal separately and rice with toor dal for atleast 3hours...Grind the urad dal until they turns soft and fluffy batter...take off the urad dal batter and grind the soaked rice and toor dal as slightly coarse batter..mix everything with enough salt..leave overnite for fermentation..

While making out idlis, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, let them splutters..add the chopped onions and curry leaves and stir until the onions turns transculent..add this tempered spices to the toor dhal idli batter, give a stir..Grease the idli moulds with oil and pour the toor dhal idli batter in the moulds, steam cook for 10 minutes in idli cooker..

Serve hot with hot and spicy gravies or chutneys!

Mixed Beans Sundal/Kathamaba Sundal & Onion Medhu Vadai

Vinayagar chathurthi feast continues, today am posting mixed beans sundals and onion medhu vadai..I prepared this mixed beans sundal with dry beans like butter beans, green peas,black beans, yellow peas, rajma, red chori,kala channa, channa,black-eyed peas,lima beans etc, yea i used all these beans to make out this delicious, protein packed sundal which tastes really delicious coz i used loads of varieties beans cooked together and sauteed with spices and grated coconut..very simple yet an healthy snacks for kids and to health conscious adults..i didnt went for raw mango pieces to try out this sundal, which seems to be an excellent one...Medhu vadai is basically prepared with soaked urad dal and some people prepare mostly medhu vadai with coarse pepper powder, cumins seeds while others go for chopped onions, chopped green chillies and few spices, i choosed the second one and prepared this medhu vadais with shallots which turned out this medhu vadais too tasty better than onions...

Mixed Beans Sundal:
2cups Mixed beans
1/4cup Fresh grated coconut
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
5nos Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Soak mixed beans in water for overnite..the next day ,strain the water and wash it thoroughly..cook in pressure cooker with enough upto one whistle..strain again the water and keep aside..heat enough oil and add the mustard seeds, urad dal curry leaves and asafoetida powder, let them splutters..add immediately the cooked beans,give a stir..finally add the fresh grated coconut and cook for few seconds..

Serve hot..

Onion Medhu Vadai:
1cup Whole white urad dal
3/4cup Shallots (chopped)
2nos Green chillies (chopped)
1tsp Ginger pieces (smashed)
1tsp Whole fennel seeds
5nos Curry leaves
Salt
Oil for deepfrying

Soak the whole urad dal in water and keep aside for 2 hours...strain the excess of water and grind them as fine paste with salt, u can add just few drops of water...Take out the batter and add the chopped shallots, chopped green chillies, smashed ginger pieces, whole fennel seeds and curry leaves..meanwhile heat the oil for deep frying, take a small ball from the vada batter..flatten them with ur wet fingers in ur palm, make a small hole in middle and drop gently to the hot oil one by one...Fry them in batchs until they turns golden brown..drain the excess of oil with paper towel..

Serve hot with coconut chutney!!

Coconut N Jaggery Balls , Semolina & Oats Kheer

Special festive dishes goes to sweet and savoury dishes...We cant prepare daily sweet dishes either special savoury dishes at home thats why while making dishes during festive times i always prepare mostly delicious and new dishes, and this time Ganesh Chathurthi was on sunday so no need to say how i really felt happy to try out many dishes on this day,i started my chathurthi special dishes with coconut & jaggery balls as this balls are really very easily to prepare,this balls are traditionally prepared for making modaks at my mom's place and i changed this time to turn this modaks stuffing sweet coconut and jaggery mix as yummy ball, and rolled this balls over almond flakes...Now coming to semolina & oats kheer, i have already prepared halwas with oats and kheer with oats and mango, and this time i went for semolina (rava) and oats kheer..Another delicious kheer!!! Am sending this sweet coconut & jaggery balls and semolina & oats kheer to Purva's FF-Janmashtami & Ganesh Chathurthi and the semolia &oats kheer goes to Sanghi's FIL-Milk, again both dishes goes to Sara's Sweets & Savouries Event..

Coconut N Jaggery Balls:
1cup Jaggery
3/4cup Fresh grated coconut
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
Few almond flakes

Make a syrup with jaggery and 1/4cup of water, strain this syrup and heat in medium high flame, stir continously until the syrup get thickens, add the grated coconut and cook until the mixture get thickens, finely add the cardamom powder, put off the stove...keep this mixture aside and let it cool..

Make small balls from this mixture and roll over the almond flakes...Enjoy!!

Semolina & Oats Kheer:
1/4cup Semolina
1/4cup Oats
1/2cup Milk
1/4cup Condensed milk
Few saffron strands
1tsp Cardamom powder
1tbsp Ghee
10nos Cashew nuts
Few almond flakes

Dry roast the semolina for few minutes,also dry roast oats for few minutes and keep aside...Bring boil half a cup of water and add the roasted rava , cook in simmer for 5 minutes, add immediately the milk and condensed milk, saffron strand,roasted oats and cook until the rava and oats get well cooked..meanwhile heat the ghee and fry the cashew nuts,add these fried cashew nuts, almond flakes & cardamom powder to the kheer and put off the stove..

Serve hot or cold!

Wheat Flour Pidi Kozhukattai & Happy Ganesh Chathurthi

Wishing you all a Happy Ganesh Chathurthi....Hope u all might be enjoying today's delicious dishes, which u prepared to celebrate this famous chathurthi day...I prepared too many dishes to celebrate this great day and the menu starts with mixed beans sundal, coconut and jaggery balls, onion medhu vadais, modaks, rawa and oats kheer etc, yea today's menu was quite a long and we enjoyed this great day with all these yummy dishes....Last year i prepared  for ganesh chathurthi Ragiflour Pidi Kozhukattais and this year i want to make kozhukattais as another healthy and delicious dumplings, to change the usual way of making out kozhukattais i went for wheat flour which is one more healthiest way to prepare these sweet dumplings..i used storebought wheat flour(atta) to prepare this fabulous wheat flour dumplings with jaggery, dry roasted moongdal and grated coconut...Easy, yet healthy also delicious kozhukattais are ready within few minutes..These kozhukattais goes to Purva's FF-Janmashtami & Ganesh Chathurthi..

Here is some of my dishes, will post all these dishes one by one very soon...now lets go to wheat flour pidi kozhukattai..

1cup Wheat flour
1/2cup Jaggery
1+1/4cup Water
2tbsp Split moongdal
1tsp Cardamom powder
1/4cup Grated coconut
1/4tsp Salt
1tbsp Oil

Dry roast the wheat flour in a pan for few minutes,keep aside..now dry roast the split moongdal in a pan until they turns golden brown.

Heat the water, oil and salt, once the water starts boiling, add the jaggery pieces and make a syrup...strain this syrup and heat again until they starts thickens, add immediately the roasted wheat flour;roasted moongdal, grated coconut,cardamom powder and stir everything until the wheat flour get off from the pan...let them cool.

Take a small ball from the dough n press in ur fingers..Pressure cook them for 10 minutes in Idly Cooker..
Serve hot..

Microwave Mushroom Briyani & Microwave Bread Halwa

Before starting my blog, i rarely used microwave oven, i can definitely say that i just used to heat milk, water and already prepared foods to reheat..but since i started blogging and participating few of the events, i really came to know how to do many dishes to prepare through microwave oven..My today's trial went for mushroom briyani and bread halwa which i prepared for our lunch..This microwave mushroom briyani and microwave bread halwa tastes fabulous together..I tried some of the leftover baguette slices to make the microwave halwa since none want to have them for breakfast, i just gave an another life to those almost dried baguette slices to a delicious bread halwa...While for mushroom briyani i didnt went for long process, instead of coconut milk i used yogurt and prepared similar as we do in pressure cooker or in rice cooker, even the cooking time doesnt need that much, i finished the whole process within few minutes and one more thing i realized today that cooking in microwave oven doesnt need that much attention, while sauteing the veggies and masalas where in stove top u need to stir and saute in simmer for not to burn the veggies and masalas...None will believe if u say that u have prepared this delicious halwa and briyani in microwave oven...

Microwave Mushroom Briyani:
3/4cup Button Mushrooms(chopped)
2cups Basmati rice
2nos Onions (chopped lengthwise)
2nos Tomatoes(chopped)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Ginger paste
1tsp Garlic paste
2nos Whole spices (bayleaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom)
1/2tsp Whole fennel seeds
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1cup Yogurt
2cups Hot water
Salt
1/4cup Oil & ghee
Few mint leaves

Heat the oil & ghee in a large microwave safe bowl for 1 minute in high, add all the whole spices to the hot oil and heat again for 2 minutes in high..now add the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, slit opened chillies, garlic paste, ginger paste, whole fennel seeds and cook for 10minutes in high(give a stir in between), now add the chopped mushrooms, red chilly powder, garam masala powder, salt and mint leaves, mix everything well and cook again for 5 minutes in high,meanwhile wash the rice twice and strain the excess of water...now add the washed rice to the mushroom masala, give a stir...add now the yogurt and hot water to the bowl, check for salt and cook for 30minutes in high (give a stir twice inbetween)...

Take out the bowl and serve this delicious mushroom briyani with any sort of raitas...

Microwave Bread Halwa:

10nos Baguette slices
1cup Milk
1/4cup Sugar
2tbsp Ghee
Few saffron strands
Few Almond flakes
1/4tsp Cardamom powder

Cut the baguette slices as small cubes..toss the bread cubes with ghee and arrange in a microwave flast bowl, cook for 2minutes, u will get the roasted bread cubes, add the sugar and a half cup milk to the roasted bread cubes and heat again for 5 minutes..add now the remaining milk & saffron strands to the bread pieces and cook for 3minutes until the bread turns soggy..finally add the cardamom powder and almond flakes to the bread halwa..

Enjoy!!

Gurkensalat(German Cucumber Salad) & Tomatensalat (German Tomato Salad)

Whenever i go for new cuisine, i'll always go for salads or soups...This time i started with two german style cucumber and tomato salad for our today's lunch, some of the german dishes are really very easy to prepare and they hardly need really very few minutes....These salads are really refreshing, healthy, delicious, simple to prepare and prefect for hot summer...While i was searching for German recipes, i have fallen completely in love the ingredients they are used to prepare this delicious, simple salad..I tried out immediately and my H loved the salads who says rarely 'Yes' to salads if salads are served twice for dinner...This both salads goes for quite a different dressing which change completely the taste of these salads...Cucumber salad goes for cream dressing while tomato salad goes for herbs and  worcestershire sauce, this salads are definitely a keeper for me...Am sending this both salads to AWED-German guest hosted by Lakshmi of Kitchen chronicles, event started by DK...

Gurkensalat (German Cucumber Salad)
2nos Cucumber
2tbsp Apple cider vinegar
1tsp Sugar
1/4tsp Salt
1/4tsp Pepper powder
1/4cup Sour cream
1/2tsp Dry parsley leaves
1tbsp Onion(finely chopped)

Peel the cucumbers and cut into very thin slices...mix together the vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and pour over the sliced cucumbers,let it sit for half an hour in fridge...finely add the sour cream, dry parsley leaves and finely chopped onion pieces..

Serve!

Tomatensalat (German Tomato Salad)
3nos Tomatoes (juicy and ripen tomatoes)
1/4tsp Salt
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2tsp Cider vinegar
1/2tsp Sugar
1/4tsp Dry thyme
1/4tsp Dry basil
1/4tsp Pepper powder
1/4no Onion(chopped roughly)

Mix together the vinegar, dry thyme,oil,sugar, salt, dry basil, pepper powder, worcestershire sauce and chopped onions..toss with chopped tomato pieces, keep everything for an hour in fridge and serve...

Bellpeppers Masala Dosa & Soyachunks n Greenpeas Kurma...Some Awards

Southindian breakfast specially tamilian breakfast is not complete without idlis and dosas...i love crispy paper roast and masala dosas, before few years ago making dosa here is completely a tough task coz of rice we get here..now coz of srilankans and huge population of pondicherrians we get any sort of rice for our rice dishes, idlis and dosas..i had many bitter experiences while making out dosas,even i have trashed sometimes the dosa batter too..but nowadays i can do anything, really many thing..After the hottest wednesday here, sterday evening was completely an another day, coz of the cold climate..i felt like preparing dosas after our few salad days..I did a simple masala with red and green bellpeppers and served a stuffing for making out masala dosa along with soyachunks and green peas kurma..both together turns out evening dinner fabulous.. They tastes really divine and really a prefect combination...Healthy breakfast or dinner this bellpepper masala dosa and soya &greenpeas kurma suits prefect...Am sending the bellpeppers masala dosa to EC's WYF-Breakfast and the soyachunks&greenpeas kurma goes to VIki's Side dish for chapathi...

2cups Idli batter

For Bellpepper masala:
1cup Red and green bell peppers (chopped)
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Chilly powder
1tbsp Soya sauce
Salt (if needed)
Oil

Heat oil in a pan and let splutter the cumin seeds, add the chopped bellpepper pieces and saute for few seconds, add the chilly powder, soya sauce and salt if needed and cook in simmer until the oil gets separates, keep aside and let them cool..

Make a dosa batter by adding few water to the idli batter,heat a non stick pan, grease the pan with oil and paper towel or with a slice of onion..now pour a spoonful of batter and turn in clockwise to small circles..drizzle few drops of oil around and flip the other side and cook well...now place a the bellpepper masala inside the dosa and roll it...Serve hot!!

Soyachunks & Green Peas Kurma:
1/2cup Dry green peas
10nos Soyachunks
1no Onion (chopped)
1no Tomato (chopped)
2nos Bayleaves
1tsp Garlic paste
1tsp Ginger paste
2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt
Oil

To Grind:
1tsp Peppercorns
1tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Fennel seeds
1/4cup Grated coconut pieces
1no Cinnamon stick
3nos Cloves
2tbsp Coriander seeds
4nos Dry red chillies

Soak the dry green peas overnite and cook in hot water with salt until they get half cooked, drain the excess of water and keep aside...Cook the soyachunks in salted hot water until their double their volume, drain and squeeze out the excess of water...meanwhile grind all the ingredients from the list 'to grind' as fine paste and keep aside...

Heat enough oil in a kadai, add the bay leaves and fry until they turns brown, add immediately the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, ginger paste, garlic paste and saute everything well until the raw smells goes away...add now the half cooked green peas and add the grounded paste to the kadai, cook everything in simmer for few minutes with lid closed...finally add the cooked soya chunks and enough water to the kadai and cook in medium high flame for few minutes..put off the stove and add the coriander leaves..

Serve as side dish!


Awards:

Its always been a real pleasure to get and share the awards through this virtual world, am really happy to get this fabulous blog award from Sangi,Rekha..Thanks dears for thinking about me..

It is the Scrumptious Blog Award -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!

And this beautiful scrumptious blog award was shared with me by Sireesha,Priyaraj,Sushma Mallya and Priya..Thanks a lot gals..

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 would like to share this both awards to my following blogger friends:

Uma,Sweatha,Rekha,Yasmeen,Lubna,Keerthana,Sathya Sankar,Pavani,Sadhana and Muskaan,Usha Nandini,Varsha,Superchef,Vibaas,Vidhya...

Pls accept this awards friends!!

Black-eyed Peas N Potato Cutlet

Legumes (beans)are the oldest cultivated plants...Legumes are often called "the poor people's meat," however, they might be better known as the "healthy people's meat." Many legumes, especially soybeans, are demonstrating impressive health benefits. Diets rich in legumes are being used to lower cholesterol levels, improve blood glucose control in diabetics, and reduce the risk of many cancers..The major health benefit of common beans is their rich source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. In addition to lowering cholesterol, the high fiber content of beans prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal, making these beans an especially good choice for individuals with diabetes, insulin resistance, or hypoglycemia.Common beans also offer an excellent source of complex carbohydrate and fiber. They are a very good source of folic acid and molybdenum. Common beans are also a good source of phosphorus, iron, protein, magnesium, manganese, and potassium...most beans can be purchased precooked in cans, cooking your own offers significant economical, as well as possibly health, benefits. Cooking your own will produce 3 times the amount compared to canned products.Here is the simple but yet a healthy black-eyed peas and potato cutlet, prefect for evening snacks, a prefect side dish for rice dishes..Am sending this delicious and nutritious cutlet to Susan's  MLLA-14...

1cup Black-eyes peas (soaked and cooked)
2nos Potatoes (cooked)
1no Onion(chopped)
1/4cup Tomatoes (chopped)
3/4tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
1/4cup Bread crumbs
1/4cup Corn flour
Salt
Oil

Smash together both black-eyed peas and potatoes, add the red chilly powder, garam masala powder, coriander leaves, salt..meanwhile heat a few drops of oil in a kadai and add the chopped onions and chopped tomatoes, saute both together until the veggies get slightly cooked...keep aside...make a white thick paste with cornflour and water in a flat plate..take the bread crumbs in an another plate...Mix the cooked onion and tomato pieces to the smashed veggies...Take a small ball from the veggie mixture..flatten them as any shape as u desire and dip the cutlets in the cornflour paste, immediately roll them over the bread crumbs and keep aside...Arrange them in fridge for an hour before shallow frying the cutlets..

Heat oil for shallow frying in pan and fry the cutlets on both sides until they turns brown..serve hot!!

Bellpeppers N Melon Salad

Hot!! hot!! its too hot here, u might have heard that Europe is completely terrified by the huge red ball 'Sun', yea since few days the temperature is quite like we were living in a desert..Its that much hot and even the french government have alerted yesterday that today is going to be the hottest day of this summer...This sort of hot climate are really freaky here since they crossed large amount of death of aged peoples before few years ago..Its really hard to cook and eat when its too hot, everything we need is water, juices and salads..having rice dishes or cooking gravies etc is completely a hard task when its 40°c in ur kitchen..Since few days most of our dinner is salads, salads & salads...This bellpepper and melon salad is one of among those salad which i prepared for our dinner..Simple, colourful, refreshing, easy and both melon and bell peppers together suits tremendously prefect... the crunchy bellpepper and delicious sweet melon tastes amazing while served as salads, also i have added few lettuce leaves, cucumber, corn kernels and served with pepper powder and salt with a tbsp of olive oil, u can also omit both salt and oil and serve very well with salt.

5nos Lettuce leaves (any salad leaves)
1/2cup Red bellpepper pieces
1/2cup Green bellpepper pieces
1/2cup Corn kernels
1/2no Canteloupe melon
1/2 no Cucumber
Salt
Oil
1/4tsp Pepper powder

Scoop out small balls from canteloupe melon and cucumber, keep aside...In a large bowl mix the lettuce leaves, red and green bellpepper pieces, corn kernels, cucumber balls and canteloupe balls (u can also chop the cucumber and melon instead of making out balls),give a stir...Springle the salt, pepper powder, add a tablespoon of olive oil..again give a stir and serve immediately...

Chickpeas Sundal/Garbonza Bean Sundal

Chickpeas sundal, protein packed snacks which is really simple to prepare also really fulfilling snacks for everyone..We are still somewat in summer vacations, yet to go for two weeks to start our routine life..I am really enjoying my vacations with my family members and am really sad that my vacation is going to come to an end in two weeks, yea am getting lazy nowadays haha!thats y am not able to post two recipes posts per day..Will definitely change my attitudes once the summer vacations comes to an end...Even am lazy to do cooking as before,anyhow i do prepare healthy snacks to munch before a TV show or while watching movies..Some of our festivals goes for this protein packed sundal especially for Ganesh Chathurthi...its a traditional way to celebrate ganesh chathuthi with sundals and modaks... sundal plays an important role during this festival, some may go for kala channa, channadal, moongdal and i love to prepare sundals with white chickpeas..Voila simple chickpeas sundal which suits perfectly for evening snacks...

1cup Dry chickpeas
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
2nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
2tbsp Grated coconut
3nos Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Soak overnite the dry chickpeas in water...the next day cook the soaked chickpeas with enough salt in hot water or either pressure cook upto one whistle...Drain the excess of water and keep aside..heat a tablespoon of oil and add the mustard seeds, urad dal, dry red chillies, asafoetida powder and curry leaves, let the turns brown...add immediately the cooked chickpeas to the pan and saute for few minutes, finally add the grated coconut, give a stir and put off the stove..

Serve!

French Bread Toast/Pain Perdu

French Bread toast can be called as Pain Perdu in french which is prepared simply with egg,nutmeg powder, milk,cinnamon powder ,vanilla essence mixture in which the bread slices or french baguette are dipped and toasted on both sides with melted butter until they turns golden brown...This toast brings me loads of memories, my mom used to prepare this delicious toast often for our evening snacks, the aroma of this toasted bread makes us hungry while entering after a long day at school..This is a sweet version while spicy version i have already tried and really enjoyed it, u may check my Spicy bombay toast, if u are searching for spicy version..Coming to this french bread toast, i prepared this toast with french bread called baguette which is quite a famous bread and they suits incredibly prefect to prepare this bread toast, u may serve this bread toast either with powdered sugar, maple syrup, icecreams y not with whipping cream..Easy snacks quite healthy and definitely this toast brings us lots of old memories na!!!

10nos Baguette slices
2nos Egg
2tbsp Sugar
1cup Milk
1/2tsp Vanilla essence
1pinch Nutmeg powder
1pinch Cinnamon powder
1tsp Maple syrup
2tsp Butter

Beat the eggs well in a bowl, in an another bowl beat together milk, sugar, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder, vanilla essence....dip the bread slices to the milk mixture first, let it sit for few seconds and then dip them in beatened egg...meanwhile grease the pan with butter and place the bread slices to the hot butter,cook on both sides until they turns golden brown...

Drizzle the maple syrup over the bread toast and serve hot!!

Chilled Watermelon Soup

Its peak season for summer fruits like peach, apricot, watermelon here...Watermelon is not only great on a hot summer day, this delectable thirst-quencher may also help quench the inflammation that contributes to conditions like asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, colon cancer, and arthritis.Sweet, juicy watermelon is actually packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature. Watermelon is an excellent source of vitamin C and a very good source of vitamin A, notably through its concentration of beta-carotene. Pink watermelon is also a source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene. These powerful antioxidants travel through the body neutralizing free radicals.Watermelon can be either as salad with cucumber, tomatoes, can also prepare as jams, pies,fresh juices etc..Here is a simple soup made with watermelon,orange fresh juice and mixed fruits soaked for atleast two hours and served chilled..Such a refreshing soup while its too hot can be very served as dessert..

2cups Watermelon (chopped)
1cup Fresh orange juice
1/2tsp Honey
1no Banana (chopped)
10nos Grapes
1/4cup Orange (chopped)

Puree the watermelon pieces with fresh orange juice and honey..cover the watermelon puree and chill for 2hours...While serving add the chopped banana pieces, grapes and chopped orange pieces to the watermelon puree and serve immediately...

Refreshing soup!

Karunai Kizhangu Kola Urundai/Yam Savoury Balls

Karunai kizhangu which is called as elephant foor yam is quiet rich in protein than okras.. KarunaiKizhangu kola urundai,its a snack or else a starter... can replace usual samosa,rolls in a party..very easy to make n ppls whoever hate this elephantfoot  yam will  fall in love with this kola balls...Even kids love this...Some peoples will definitely feel itching while removing the skin of elephantfoot yam , to prevent this take a tbsp of oil and spread as hand cream on ur hands...some may be allergic to this vegetable,its better to cook in small quantity while preparing dishes with this healthy yam to find out whether peoples at home are nt allergic to this yam variety..this kola urundai/savoury balls are my mom's special snack dish, she started preparing this balls after watching them in a TV show long back and i can definitely say this savoury balls are my family's favourite..

1/2kg Elephantfoot yam
1/2cup Onion ( chopped)
1 cup Coconut (grated)
1tbsp Ginger (chopped)
1 tbsp Garlic (chopped)
4 nos Green chillies
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Chana dal
1 tsp Blackgram dal
3 nos Red chillies
1 tsp Fennel seed powder/sombu powder
1 tsp Garam masala powder
2cups Roasted split chickpeas/pottukadalai
Salt
Oil for deepfrying

Cut the elephantfoot yam into small cube pieces and wash them in cold water...Heat 1 cup of  water with turmeric powder and yam pieces..cook it for 5 minutes.

Keep a kadai in a stove...heat oil , add mustard,black gram dal,channa dal,red chillies and let them turn brown ..add chopped onion,saute until its turns transparent...now add chopped ginger pieces, garlic pieces and green chillies to the onion...saute them well for 5 minutes,finally add the cooked yam pieces...put the flame to simmer,add salt but never add water...stir it well n cook slowly in simmer flame...smash the yam pieces a little bit with a wooden spatule...add grated coconut to the slightly mashed yam pieces and put off the stove..let them get cool...

Meanwhile grind the roasted split chick peas to fine powder...sieve it and keep aside .Grind the already cooked yam pieces in a blender...shouldnt add even a single drop of water even it will be difficult to grind the yam pieces. Try to grind it nicely like vada batter and finally add garam masala and fennelseed powder, the chickpeas powder to the mix...while making balls, this mix  shouldnt stick in ur palms or in ur fingers..if its sticky add more chick peas powder.

Fry as deep frying and serve with ketchup!!

Eggless Oatmeal, Maple syrup N Banana Bread

Maple syrups come from the saps of maple trees. There are certain processes involved in extracting the syrup from the sap, the most common being that used with a sap sprout. While low in calories, maple syrup’s nutritional profile is comprised of protein, carbohydrates, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, and zinc.Maple syrup is a good sweetener to use if you are trying to benefit the health of your heart. The zinc supplied by maple syrup, in addition act as an antioxidant, has other functions to decrease the progression of atherosclerosis.One ounce of maple syrup supplies 22.0% of the daily value for this very important trace mineral that benefits our health. One more bread with oatmeal and banana, but this time i used maple syrup instead of sugar and mashed ripen bananas suits prefectly for the sweetness of this bread..Initially i want to prepare this eggless oatmeal, banana bread as vegan version but unfortunately i have added few tablespoon of butter to prepare this delicious banana and oatmeal bread...Delicious, healthy bread suits incredibly prefect for weekend breakfast with hot coffee or tea..

2cups Rolled Oats
1+1/2cups All purpose flour
1cup Banana puree
3/4cup Maple Syrup
1tsp Baking soda
1tsp Baking powder
1/2cup Butter(melted)
1/2cup Milk


Mix flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda together and keep aside...beat the butter, maple syrup together until they mix well..now add the banana puree and the milk to the butter and maple syrup mixture..Preheat the oven to 350F..

Add now the already prepared flour to the banana mixture and mix everything well..grease the loaf pan and place a baking paper in the loaf pan..pour the mixture to the mould..arrange the loaf pan in the middle track n bake for 45-50minutes or insert a wooden pick in center , if it comes out clean, the bread is done...

Cool 10 minutes and remove from the pan..Cool completely before loafing the bread...

Clusterbeans Thoran

Cluster beans are annual crop in India..this cluster beans are often used to prepare as stir fries while some used to prepare sundried cluster beans which suits prefect for curd rice..my mom used to prepare this sun dried cluster beans with her vadams which she used to prepare at home..My favourite clusterbeans dish always goes for clusterbeans paruppu usili,i just love this...but this time i want to prepare different from my usual paruppu usili and i thought of preparing delicious stir fry which can be prepared easily and simply...I have crossed this cluster beans thoran here..This cluster beans thoran starts by chopped cluster beans which are cooked in boiled water until they turn soft and tempered with oil along with grounded coconut with cumin seeds and green chillies, instead of cooking the clusterbeans in water i cooked clusterbeans pieces in microwave for 7minutes and this microwave cooking makes the cooking time very much quick and easy...Am sending this thoran to Shanthis' State Specials

1cup Cluster beans pieces
3tbsp Grated coconut
3nos Green chillies
2tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
3nos Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Cook the chopped clusterbeans in microwave safe bowl with enough salt and 1/4cup water for 7minutes in high..drain the excess of water and keep aside...meanwhile grind the coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds as coarse paste..Heat enough oil and add the mustard seeds,curry leaves and urad dal, let them splutters..add now the coarse paste , cook it for few minutes...then add the already cooked cluster beans, cook everything in simmer..

Serve hot!!

Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice)

Nasi Lemak is traditional malaysian coconut rice and its a malay word where this word literally means 'rice in cream'...This name is derived from the cooking process where rice is cooked in coconut cream..Malaysian people used pandan leaves to give a particular flavour this rice and spices like ginger and herbs like lemon grass are also added for additional fragrance..Traditionally this nasi lemak is served in banana lead with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies, roasted peanuts and boiled eggs with hot spicy sambal sauce, this rice dish can also be eaten with pickled vegetables, stir fried greens etc...Nasi Lemal is widely eaten in malaysia and even this dish is served in Malaysian schools, this nasi lemak can be also served as breakfast dish and sold early in the morning at roadside stalls in Malaysia where this rice is packed in newspaper, brown paper or in banana leaf, anyhow this rice dish is served as noon or evening meals in restaurants..Nasi Lemak can be prepared so many different version where some used to prepare with pandan leaves while some with bay leaves, as its kinda hard to get pandan leaves i prepared this Nasi lemak with bay leaves, ginger pieces and few pieces of lemon grass and i served with Malaysian Spicy Okra Kheema both together tastes marvellous and am sending this malaysian coconut rice to Vaishali's IAVW-Malaysian and to Think Spice-Think Bayleaf guest hosted by Apu of Annarasa, event started by Sunita..

1cup Long grain rice (i used basmati rice)
2cups Coconut milk
2nos Bayleaves
1tsp Ginger pieces
1/2tsp Lemon grass pieces
Salt
1tbsp Oil

Wash and clean the rice and put it in a heavy bottomed pan, add the coconut milk, bay leaves, ginger pieces, lemon grass pieces,salt ,oil and cook everything in high flame.... when the rice begins to boil, lower the heat..keep in simmer and cook for 10-15minutes until all the water been absorbed, remove from the heat...stir the rice gently and cover the vessel with lid and keep aside, let it sit for 10-15 minutes...

Serve with any spicy side dish!

MW Peas Pulao, MW Paneer Masala & MW Semiya Paayasam

Thanks a lot friends for all ur beautiful wishes in Orkut as well as in Facebook on my birthday..Am really very happy to see all ur wonderful wishes and i really enjoyed my day....My day started with a beautiful gift from my Hubby who bought me Iphone which was i wished to buy since a long, needless to say my happiness and the morning itself started marvellous for me, and coming to the birthday lunch i prepared easily in microwave and menu goes for peas pulao, paneer masala and semiya paayasam , i prepared one by one in microwave oven which need quite a bit more time to prepare and i enjoyed my day without much chopping veggies and stirring the gravies or frying...This microwave dishes need each atleast half an hour to prepare eventhough its quite a long to prepare than the stove top..Its was a really a feast for me to enjoy all these microwave dishes and had a great time with my family..

Microwave Peas Pulao:
2cups Basmati Rice
1/2cup Green peas (frozen)
1tsp Cumin seeds
2cups Water
1cup Thick Coconut milk
2tbsp Oil + ghee
Salt

Heat the oil and ghee in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes, add the cumin seeds to the hot oil-ghee and cook for 3 minutes in high..add the frozen green peas to the roasted cumin seeds and cook for 5 minutes, give a stir twice in between...Now add the thick coconut milk, salt and water to the green peas and cook for 5 minutes in high, meanwhile wash the basmati rice and strain the excess of water in a colander...add the basmati rice to the hot coconut milk give a stir and cook for 5 minutes...take off the microwave bowl, give a stir and cook again for 15 minutes in high until the rice get well cooked, dont forget to stir every 5 minutes..

Serve hot with any side dish!!

Microwave Paneer Masala:
1cup Paneer cubes
2nos Onion (chopped)
2nos Tomatoes (chopped)
5nos Garlic cloves
1tbsp Ginger pieces
1/2cup Milk
5nos Almonds
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1tsp Coriander powder
Salt
Oil

Soak the almonds in hot milk (heat the milk in microwave for 2 minutes) atleast for an hour...Grease a microwave safe bowl with few drops of oil and add the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, garlic cloves and ginger pieces, cook in high for 10 minutes (stir in between twice)..take off the bowl and grind the cooked veggies as bit coarse paste...Meanwhile heat few drops of oil and cook the paneer pieces for 2minutes in high in microwave plate and keep aside...Heat enough oil and add the grounded paste with red chilly powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and salt, cook in high for 10 minutes (stir in between) or until the oil gets separates, now grind the soaked almonds and milk as fine paste..add this fine paste to the cooked masala (can add water if u need for, i didnt add water as i need for thick paneer masala for my rice) and cook again for 2 minutes...finally add the paneer cubes and cook everything for again 5 minutes in high..take off the paneer masala from the microwave..

Serve hot as side dish for pea pulao & with rotis!!

Microwave Semiya Paayasam:
1/2cup Semiya (vermicelli)
2tsp Butter
10nos Cashew nuts
2cups Milk
1/2cup Milkmaid
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
Few saffron strands

Heat the butter in microwave safe bowl and roast the cashew nuts for 2 minutes, take off the cashew nuts and add the semiya to the same bowl and cook for 2 minutes until they get slightly roasted...Add the milk and milkmaid together in an another microwave bowl and heat for 3 minutes in high(give a stir in between), add the roasted semiya to the hot milk and cook for 10-15minutes until they get well cooked(stir atleast twice while cooking) finally add the roasted cashew nuts, cardamom powder and saffron strands to the hot semiya paayasam, give a stir and serve hot or cold ..