Sambal Lampung/Indonesian Lampung Chilli Sauce

After a chinese sauce and a simple sour pickled cucumbers, am going to take you all to Indonesia. Actually to be honest, Indonesian cuisine is becaming one of my favourite cuisine recently. Their cooking skills are simply fabulous. With easily available ingredients and with less efforts you can dish out many interesting Indonesian dishes. Actually you wont miss Indian style of cooking while trying your hands with this particular cuisine. Needless to say since this cuisine is an Asian cuisine, you will definitely notice that this cuisine calls for chillies, ginger, garlic as much as Indian cuisine. Obviously if you want to try your hands with this cuisine, just start with simple dishes and am sure you will keep on exploring this incredible cuisine.

Tartar Sauce/Tartare Sauce

Its really easy to whisk out homemade tartare sauce with easily available ingredients, actually making tartar sauce at home was in my list since a long. Finally i prepared some for this week's theme as am running this month's long marathon with different themes.This week's theme is Condiments from countries. After few delicious condiments, i couldnt resist to make this easy breezy tartar sauce with storebought mayonnaise along with gherkins (pickled cucumbers),white onions and parsley, though so many versions exists in this virtual world. Not only with seafoods, this tartare sauce goes awesome with meat or else simply with french fries. My kids just enjoyed thoroughly this mildly tangy and very dangerously addictive sauce with their grilled meat skewers and french fries. This homemade tartar sauce stays prefect for 3-4 days if conserved properly in fridge. The addition of pickled cucumbers aka gherkins gives the crunchiness and chopped onions,chopped parsley leaves gives an excellent flavour to this homemade tartar sauce.

Wafu Dressing - A Japanese Condiment

After an aromatic Chimichurri sauce from Argentina, am taking you all to Japan, yes my today's post is Wafu dressing. This wafu dressing going to be a part of this week's blogging marathon theme called Condiments from Countries for this month's megamarathon. Wafu Dressing is a salad dressing which is consists of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and vegetable oil.  In Japan,every house have their own wafu dressing but my today's recipe is quite a different one and this version goes for grated onion to make it extra flavorful. I picked this wafu dressing from here.The author of this site says that if you replace half of the vegetable oil with sesame oil, then the dressing is called as Chuka Dressing, which means Chinese-style dressing in the Japanese culinary world.

Usirikaya Perugu Pachadi/Gooseberry Yogurt Chutney - Andhra Special

Perugu Pachadi is a yogurt based dip that includes vegetables such as tomato, cucumbers, squash, mango, bitter gourd etc, the vegetables used in this pachadi or chutney can be either raw or cooked.

This variety of yogurt based chutney is quite popular in coastal Andhra Pradesh. In Northern India, this dish is called as raita or dahi chutney. Andhra people makes varieties of pachadi with dals and vegetables, their meal is not complete without pachadis and each pachadi have their important place in a meal. From toor dal to bittergourd, variety of pachadis do exists to serve along with spicy hot Andhra style pickles.

My today's recipe goes for Usirikaya perugu pachadi which is prepared simply with gooseberries aka Amlas. Usirikaya means gooseberries/Amlas/Nellikaai and perugu means yogurt. This pachadi makes an excellent side dish to serve along with dosas,idlies and rotis.I just dished out this healthy and super delicious pachadi after following my aunt's instruction who lived in Hyderabad during my stay in India,trust me this fingerlicking pachadi is one of the best and interesting dish to sneak this healthy gooseberries.

Vegan Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

I stopped buying pestos from stores since ever i started preparing pestos at home. Most of the storebought  pesto goes for Herbs, nuts and cheese. If you are making pestos at home, you can make them depending upon your tastebuds.If you would have noticed my recipes index, most of my pestos are vegan with loads of nuts. Making pesto at home is like a child play, apart from grinding you doesnt need anything to do with them. Pesto makes a fantabulous sauce to relish with breads, pastas,simply as a dip for savoury biscuits. Pesto belongs to Italy and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and parmesan cheese or Fiore sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk).A different version of pesto sauce exists in Provence region of France and its called as Pistou. But Pistou is generally made with olive oil, basil and garlic.

Motabel/Qatari Eggplant Dip ~~ Qatari Cuisine

Q, this alphabetical letter dont have many options when its comes to a country's name. For this month's long blogging marathon, we marathoners are running Around the world in 30days as theme starting with alphabets. After the alphabet 'P', today we are landing to Qatar, this country and its cuisine is not that much familiar for me,i just travelled twice in Qatar airways  and have seen their airport. Apart from it, this Country is quite unknown for me,but for my surprise their foods are very much known as the most important influence on Qatar's food came with the arrival of other Arab people as Levantine (also known as Lebanese) cuisine arrived. This brought hummus, tabbouleh, and spices that are now common in Qatar and throughout much of the Middle East.The region also changed its food due to the influence from others who came and went with the trade moving to and from the Persian Gulf. The Persians, Indians, and even the Europeans arrived with new ingredients and ideas that changed the cuisine. This led to the greater prevalence of rice in the dishes and again new spices and ingredients arrived in greater numbers.

In the modern age foods from abroad have been introduced to Qatar, but none have truly changed the traditional foods. Most traditional dishes remain the same, but ethnic foods are now more common and available, including Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Italian, and American foods. These foods are growing in popularity partially due to the fact that people from these countries live and work in Qatar and partially due to the fact that the locals also enjoy these foreign foods on occasion.

Watermelon Salsa

For the letter 'W' under International cuisine theme, we have numerous choices eventhough my first choice i planned to cook up for today's post for my long marathon was wonton soup, then i dropped it coz the day i cooked it was not a prefect day to click as it was raining like anything.  Then one fine day, i decided to make gaspacho with watermelon and none wanted to have it so i dropped it again, actually the recipe choice of W took me enough time to decide and finally i went for making this watermelon salsa for a birthday party we organised at home for my son during summer. This salsa was a big hit among the adults, its such a light,refreshing and quick salsa,just tastes fabulous with tortilla chips.

A prefect party starter and definitely a crowd pleaser.Salsa is a sauce which goes usually for tomato based sauces, salsa is a Spanish word for sauce. There are many types of salsa usually vary throughout Latin America. Actually salsa are traditionally prepared using mortar and pestle eventhough blenders are used commonly now. The most popular and easy salsa is pico de gallo which is prepared quickly with raw tomatoes,lime juice,chilli peppers,onions, coriander leaves. This watermelon salsa is in my to do list since a long and finally i could make some during summer.This refreshing salsa takes hardly 10minutes to get ready if you have all the ingredients with you.Makes this salsa when you get watemelon abundantly and enjoy them.

Chinese Veg Spring Rolls with MW Thai Peanut Sauce

August is going to a month of celebration for us, this month is so special for me coz am a august born too. Many of my friends who are very close to my heart celebrates their birthday in august too. One of my food blogger celebrates her birthday today,since i want to celebrate her birthday virtually i cooked an appetizier from her space as we, a group for food bloggers chosed to cook some food for the celebration under the theme potluck party from her space..

Happy birthday Sangeetha Priya of Nitha's Kitchen..

Happy birthday to you..May this year bring something new and exciting for you, may this birthday turn out to be as amazing as you..Happy birthday to you again.

Chinese foods are my weakness especially their spring rolls are our family favourite. I can get chinese foods easily as am living in Chinatown and atleast thrice a month i make chinese foods at home.I have made zillions of time these spring rolls at home but i wonder how i forget to post it in my space,its happens na.Doesnt matter,now i had a chance to post it as i picked it from Sangeetha's Space.Spring rolls are usually served for starter here in every chinese restaurants. They can be made very easily and the filling will also go for an easy breezy preparation. Sauteed veggies rolled in a spring roll sheets,once fried in oil makes these crispy beauties.Also am running again the first week of blogging marathon from today and my theme for this week is Microwave cooking, earlier i used my microwave oven just for reheating but after entering to this blogsphere i started experimenting with it and i can cook a feast now with it.

Few days back i made these crispy spring rolls and served with microwave Thai peanut sauce for our snacks.This crispy spring rolls dipped in peanut sauce makes an excellent pair.This microwave peanut sauce goes for an easy breezy preparation and they gets ready within less than 2minutes. Smooth peanut butter cooked with soya sauce,rice vinegar and minced garlic makes a wonderful dip for spring rolls.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#31.

Baklazhanaya Ikra -Russian Eggplant Caviar

Baklazhanaya Ikra, a popular vegetarian spread prepared specially with large eggplants and this dish ressembles tastewise quite like our Indian Baingan Bharta..This caviar is prepared simply by grilling eggplants in oven from which their flesh is taken and prepared along with onions, canned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, salt and pepper powder..Chopped tomatoes brings them a beautiful colour and this Russian eggplant spread tastes fabulous simply when served along with any bread eventhough Russians goes for their famous rye bread...This spread take an important role in most of Russian home, as this eggplant caviar is known well in Russia as the Poor Man's Caviar..




1no Eggplant(large)
1cup Onion chopped
6tbsp Olive oil
1tsp Garlic (chopped finely)
2no Tomatoes (large & chopped)
1/2tsp Sugar
Salt
Pepper powder
Lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 degrees...Bake the eggplant on the middle rack for about an hour, turning it over once or twice untill the eggplants turn soft..Meanwhile, cook the onions in 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in medium heat untill they are soft but not brown...Add the garlic and cook for few minutes, put off the stove...Remove the skin of the egplant with a sharp knife, then chop the pulp finely as a puree..

Add this pureed eggplant to onions and stir in the tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper powder...Heat the remaining olive oil in the pan in medium heat and pour in the eggplant mixture.Bring to a boil, stir constantly, then turn the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for an hour.

Remove the cover and cook for another half-hour, stirring from time to time, until the mixture turns thicks.. add the lemon juice as per taste, give a stir...Transfer the mixture to a bowl...

Serve with bread..

Indianized Chunky Avocado Dip

While i was planning to make out something creamy, delicious, simple and easy dip to whip out, my choice went immediately to avocado chunks and greek yogurt which i spiced up with chaat masala,red chilly powder, amchur powder, pepper powder,sugar and salt..This dip takes hardly few seconds to whip out and tastes fantastic with a mild sour taste and bit spicy..The greek yogurt i used to make out this dip helped a lot to turn out this avocado dip really creamy and rich..We enjoyed having this tempting and delectable indianized avocado dip with some home made peanut butter and rice crackers with cumin seeds which i will be posting very soon... Those crunchy baked crackers with this creamy dip totally turned out our snacks fantastic and prefect, that to when its cold outside we definitely need something to munch while watching TV or for simple evening snacks, obviously this dip and those baked peanutbutter rice crackers turned out snacks completely awesome.

2nos Avocados
2cup Greek yogurt
1/2tsp Amchoor powder
Chaat masala (as per ur need)
1/4tsp Chilli powder
1/4tsp Sugar
1/3tsp Pepper powder
Salt

Scoop and chop the avocados flesh and mash slightly with spoons to give them a chunky aspect...take the greek yogurt, chaat masala, amchoor powder, chilli powder, pepper powder, sugar, salt as per need, whisk until the everything get well mixed..

Add the avocado chunks and mix everything well.. serve chilled with any sort of crackers, biscuits or simply with veggies..

Avocado Hummus

Its has been a quite long i was planning to make hummus at home with store bought tahini and avocado...Today i tried out at home by using canned chickpeas, garlic and lemon juice along with avocado chunks...Its really quite  easy to prepare this greeny tempting and delicious hummus which tastes marvellous with tortilla chips, pita breads and y not with fresh veggies..I can eat avocados and enjoy it directly with mayonnaise, but its not something i usually crave for thats y i prepared hummus this time with avocados...This hummus is quite an another delicious dip to enjoy with breads and we loved this green hummus...All the ingredients used in this recipe can be increased or decreased as u desire...My avocado hummus was dominated by avocado flavour than garlic as i prepared this hummus with two big avocados...

1can Chickpeas (small one)
2nos Avocados (cut as small cubes)
1tbsp Tahini paste
2tsp Lemon juice
2tsp Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Drain and rinse the chickpeas with enough water, add all the ingredients  in a blender or food processor and grind as fine paste..

Serve as dip along with some veggies or with chips or breads...finally this avocado hummus goes to MLLA-20th helping guest hosted by Rachel of The Crispy COok, event started by Susan..

MW Carrot & Dill Dip

I have some leftover dill leaves in my fridge and i wanted to prepare something easily with laughing cow cheese...I prepared this carrot and dill dip through microwave oven quite easily...As we know that dill leaves are very strong in flavour, instead of adding directly to the dip, i cooked the chopped dill leaves with carrot chunks in microwave oven with a cup of water.

Microwave cooking retains the colour of both cooked carrots and dill leaves and this dip looks fantastic with mild orange colour with green dill leaves..This dip goes awesome with toasted breads or simple dip with veggies or with meats...We enjoyed having this delicious cheesy carrot and dill dip with toasted breads for our dinner.

1cup Carrots pieces (chopped finely)
1/4cup Dill leaves (chopped)
4nos Laughing cow cheese
1/4tsp Pepper powder
Salt

Take the chopped carrots and chopped dill leaves in a microwave safe bowl with some water, cook everything in high for 10minutes(stir twice) until the carrots get well cooked..once the carrots get cooked, let them get cool and take the cooked carrots, dill leaves, laughing cow cheese, pepper powder and salt in a blender and blend everything as bit coarse paste..

Enjoy with toasted breads or simple veggies...

MW Chunky Red Bellpepper & Cream Cheese Dip

If you are a die hard fan of red bell peppers and u really want to whip out some quick dip to serve along with ur bread toast,veggies or meats, you should definitely give a try to this chunky bellpepper & cream cheese dip...Yes i prepared this dip by cooking the veggies in microwave oven for few minutes and prepared this chunky bellpepper dip by adding cream cheese, which tastes fantastic and delicious...We enjoyed having this chunky & cheesy dip with some toasted breads as starter for our sunday lunch and everyone at home enjoyed this colourful, flavourful dip...With simple ingredients, this dip is ready to serve within less than 15 minutes.

1cup Red bellpepper (cut as small cubes)
1no Onion (chopped finely)
1/2cup Cream cheese
2nos Garlic cloves (minced)
2tsp Parsley leaves (chopped)
Salt
Pepper powder
1tsp Olive oil

Take the olive oil in a microwave safe bowl and heat for a minutes in high in microwave oven, now add the finely chopped onions,salt and minced garlic cloves to the hot oil and cook for 5 minutes (stir once in between) in high again in microwave oven..finally add the red bell pepper pieces and cook for 8-10minutes again in high..take off the cooked veggies and let them cool..

Add the cream cheese, parsley leaves,pepper powder to the already cooked veggies and blend as chunky dip with a hand blender..

Serve them immediately or chiled..

MW Thai Peanut Sauce/Dip~~Two In One

Most of the peanut sauce are made with peanut butter, this Thai peanut sauce is prepared with roasted peanuts, blended with soya sauce,tamarind paste, packed brown sugar,water,garlic cloves and sesame oil..This thai peanut sauce is quite easy to prepare and can be served very well as dip with veggies or as a sauce to meat dishes or can be used along with satay sauce,y not finally to make out nutty cold noodle salad, we enjoyed having this peanut sauce with spring rolls and also i prepared cold noodles salad with japanese udon noodles..A delicious and easy as well as quick peanut sauce with simple ingredients stay prefect upto 2weeks if conserved in refrigerator..

1cup Peanuts
2nos Garlic (minced)
1tsp Dark soya sauce
2tsp Sesame oil
1tbsp Brown sugar
1tbsp Light soya sauce
1/2tsp Tamarind paste
1tsp Thai chilli sauce
Water as per need
Few Sesame seeds for garnishing

Roast the peanuts (dont overcrowd) in microwave oven for 10minutes (stir in between twice) until they get well roasted...Grind all the ingredients with enough water as smooth sauce..transfer the smooth peanut sauce in microwave oven for 3minutes in high until the sauce turns foamy..

Serve warm with meats or at room temperature as a dip with fresh veggies, or any other finger foods...

Zaalouk (Moroccan Eggplant Dip)

Moroccan cuisine is quite like our Indian cuisine with their different spice mix and flavourful dishes....I do love moroccan cuisine coz of moroccan people living in France, i often prepare the famous moroccan dish couscous other than that i was quite a novice in moroccan cooking...I got a real opportunity to try loads of moroccan dishes coz of Lavi of Homecook Recipes, since she was hosting IAVW event as theme Moroccan...Am very happy and enjoy cooking moroccan dishes since few days..i even asked few of my moroccan friends to teach me simple dishes they do prepare as their daily menu, one among those dishes this zaalouk is quite a flavourful and delicious dip served usually with moroccan breads or else with grilled meats or BBQ dishes...To serve this moroccan eggplant dip i prepared moroccan semolina bread, which suits prefectly and also tastes really delicious with this dip....Will post soon the moroccan semolina bread which is prepared already twice, coz everyone at home loved the semolina bread...Coming to this dip am sending this Zaalouk to IAVW-Moraco guest hosted by Lavi of Home Cooks Recipes, event started by Vaishali....

1no Eggplant(big)
2nos Tomatoes
3nos Garlic cloves (crushed)
1tbsp Lemon juice
2tbsp Olive oil
1tsp Paprika powder
1tbsp Cumin powder
1/2tsp Pepper powder
2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt

Wash and peel the skin of eggplant, cut the eggplant as small cubes..cook the eggplant cubes with enough water and salt for 15 minutes and drain the excess of water...chop the tomatoes finely...meanwhile heat the olive oil and add the crushed garlic cloves saute for seconds...now add the chopped tomatoes, cooked eggplant cubes, paprika powder, cumin seed powder, pepper powder and salt, cook in simmer, smash the veggies while cooking...Cook until the veggies get well cooked..finally add the lemon juice n chopped coriander leaves, give a stir and put off the stove...

Serve as dip!!!!!!

Tomato Sandwich with Beets Mayo Sauce

Simple tomato sandwich prepared with toasted bread n beets mayo sauce, wrapped in a aluminium foil suits awesome for picnic..beets mayo sauce plays as a spread for this easy sandwich which need just few tomato pieces, if u want to make the sandwich with cucumber, grated carrots, this beets mayo sauce goes prefectly as sandwich spread...check out how i prepared the beets mayo sauce here, this sauce need just few easy ingredients u can find out very easily also available quite in our kitchen, easy to prepare too...Coming to sandwich, just toast ur bread slices with electric toaster or with few drops of oil in a pan, both works out prefect.

4nos Bread slices
1no Tomato (chopped lengthwise)
1tsp Beets Mayo Sauce

Spread the beets mayo sauce over the toasted bread slices n arrange the chopped lengthwise tomato pieces..cover the tomato pieces with another bread slice..serve as sandwich..

Beets mayo sauce will make this sandwich more tasty n healthy!!

Beets Mayo Sauce- Sauce or Dip???

Once i starts cooking, nowadays my mind is just going around and searching about pink dishes...hehe..no am not getting mad, its just the passion of cooking its seems haha!! This beets mayo sauce is also one among my pink dish, every saturday we go for farmer's market to get fresh vegetables, this time i got beets for a reasonable price, so i bought almost one kg..This time i immediately steam cooked my beets n conserved them in fridge( they stays prefect for a week)..today for my sandwiches, i need to prepare something as sauce, finally i finished preparing my sauce for sandwiches with beets, mayonnaise, parsley n cream cheese...we loved the beets mayo sauce n we relished almost the whole bowl...even we had this pink sauce simply with grilled breads..

2nos Cooked beets(chopped)
2tbsp Cream cheese
2tbsp Mayonnaise
1/2tsp Dry Parsley
1/4tsp Pepper powder
Salt

Grind everything in a blender until they turns smooth paste...serve as sauce for sandwich also as dips with fries, chips etc...

Guacamole Dip

Guacamole is an avocado-based dip, famous Mexican dip...Ripe avocados, onions, lime, and salt are common to most recipes. Lime or lemon juice is added for flavor, and to slow the enzyme causing browning.Other common ingredients include minced tomatoes, black pepper, chili pepper, garlic, cumin, and cilantro. Adding coconut milk or regular milk smooths the guacamole texture.Traditional Mexican ingredients include avocados, minced tomatoes and white onions, fresh coriander, lime, garlic, salt and pepper.I prepared this guacamole as vegan coz the recipe i went through for guacamole was made with a teaspoon of cream, which i omitted for this vegan version..This is my entry for Vegan - Mexican by Vaishali of Holy Cow..

2nos Ripen Avocados
1no White onion(chopped )
1tsp Lemon juice
Few tomato pieces
1/2tsp Minced garlic
1tbsp Coriander leaves(chopped)
Pepper
Salt

In a small bowl, mash avocado with a fork or potato masher to make a slightly chunky mixture. Stir in onion, tomato pieces, minced garlic, chopped coriander leaves, lemon juice, pepper powder and salt.


Serve with tortilla chips, we enjoyed with grilled french baguette slices!!!

Yogurt-Mayo Dip

I love mayonnaise, but they r very rich in calorie so i usually give them a twist by adding thick yogurt and will prepare them as dip for my french fries etc...this one is really a delicious dip n easiest one, can prepare them within few minutes if u have thick greek yogurts in ur fridge..just few ingredients and ur yogurt mayo dip will be ready...this dip was in my draft since a long, finally i thought of posting today coz its seems Ramya of Mane Adige closing today her Chutney/Dip Mania, am rushing to send this delicious dip to her lovely event...

1/4cup Thick yogurt
2tbsp Mayonnaise
1tsp Soya sauce
1/4tsp pepper powder
1/2tsp Any dry herbs

Mix everything together for a while and serve as dip for french fries, or any other appetiziers, also as sauce for salads, they goes awesome with any sort of salads too...

Creamy dip prefect for appetiziers n salads!!!

Creamy Ricotta Dip

Anything creamy goes awesome while preparing sandwiches with bread slices, i love creamy dips r sauces for my salads too...Do you know ricotta cheese has a low carbohydrate count?? they r typically less then 3g carb per ounce...cheese are important source of nutrition liks calcium n vitamin A also rich in minerals n protein..regular cheeses r highly fat in calories , if u want to lose weight n stay healthy choose lower caloric cheese like ricotta..coming to this creamy dip, i saw Curryleaf 's Crema di Ricotta few days back, really the cream looked so fabulous, i wish to prepare them as soon as possible, but she prepared it as sweet version..i went for the spicy version for this cream, finally i finished it almost similar to curryleaf's cream...

1/2cup Ricotta cheese (low fat)
1tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4tsp Pepper powder
1/4tsp Dry basil powder
3tbsp Cream cheese (low fat)
Salt (if needed)

Whisk everything together to get a creamy dip..can serve them chilled r at room temperature...its such a delicious dip, they goes awesome as dip for french friesn fresh salads, sauce for preparing sandwiches, just as spread for breads..

Sending this creamy dip to: FIC - White host by Kitchen Flavours, Event started by Sunshinemom of Tongueticklers
On the way to: Recipe for the rest of us by Ramki
                       Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy by Sangeeth..