Maida Murukku by Vimitha Anand (My Culinary Trial Room)

The celebration is still on with another guest post by my dearest friend Vimitha Anand of  My Culinary Trial Room, she don't need any introduction further as I'm sure all of you know who is she, she comes up with very innovative and creative recipes every time you check her blog. For those who have not visited, don't waste any time, go now na....Vimi thank you for your time doing a guest post for me. Now off to her;

When Arthy of Sumanarthy's kitchen asked me to do a guest post for her in the month of November, I was first hesitant to accept it. Seriously, I just can't find the time to even blog these days and a guest post was totally out of question. But when she gave the theme as Diwali recipes, I thought that I could squeeze in a guest post sometime. After all, I had decided to make quite a few Diwali sweets and snacks and I just had to pick one for her.

I am a sucker for traditional South Indian snack items. And by sucker I mean not in eating it but to make it. The first time I tried Omapodi at home, it drank so much oil that I had to bin it. The second time I tried seedai and most of you know what happened. And to those who are new, it burst right out spluttering my entire kitchen with oil and it took me 2 hours to clean up the mess. And thus come everything to an end. The huss, the brother, and the whole family asked me to stop venturing out of my league. And so have I. Until Diwali came and I started browsing for some easy recipes. The huss was so adamant that I make the muruku under his vigilance. Grrrrr... As for the recipe, I saw this one in a TV cookery show. Its an easy and go-to recipe for beginners like me...

~*What U Need*~ Unbleached all purpose flour - 1 cup Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp Sesame seeds - 1/2 tbsp Ghee - 1 tsp Salt - to taste Warm water - to knead dough Oil - to deep fry How I Made it: Place the maida in a clean cloth and steam for 10 mins. Once done, remove and when it is warm, crumble it with your hand. Once it is completely cool, sieve it and collect the flour. If you want you can run it in the food processor or mixie once. In a mixing bowl, add maida, ghee, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, required salt and mix it once. Then add hot water little by little and combine to form a dough. Then divide them equal portions and set aside. Put each ball into the murukku press. Heat oil in a kadai and when hot drop murukkus (you could either pipe it directly into the hot oil or pipe murukku on a greased plastic cover and drop it carefully into the oil. I piped it directly into the oil. Cook on both side till golden brown, remove and drain in kitchen towl. Crush into bite sized pieces and store in an airtight container. Always fry the murukku in medium low flame.

Serve with tea!!!

So that's it Folks... 

 With Love, Signs off!!!

Bajra & Paneer Ladoo (Pearl Millet & Cottage Cheese Ladoo) by Preeti Tamilarasan of

How educating blogging can be, you get to learn and cook dishes from all around the world even when you have not tried or tasted their food before. Another interesting thing that we could learn through blogging is Food Photography, and this person have mastered the art of food photography very well, and I'm sure many of you know this person well, its non other than Preeti Tamilarasan of Indian Kitchen. Now let us see, what she have prepared for us for this Diwali, you might be thinking what Diwali recipe now, buddies its still November for me the celebration is still on. Thank you so much da PT for this wonderful guest post.

Today i'm sharing my 7th guest post for one of my dear blogger friend Karthi from Sumanarthy's Kitchen. We came to know about each other through Facebook and i still can't believe we have known each other for past one year. How soon the time flies by. I always liked her non-veg recipes which resembles my style of cooking. When she asked for a guest post, i was all excited. I took some time and finally came up with the idea of preparing my fav indian sweet "Ladoo" 

Paneer ladoo is made with crumbled paneer and sugar/condensed milk. I replaced sugar with karupatti vellam(palm jaggery), which makes it more healthy. You can also try this with normal jaggery. Lets check the recipe,

Makes 13-14 medium sized Ladoo

Preparation time : 5 mins

Cooking time : 15-20 mins 

Ingredients :

• 1 cup crumbled cottage cheese (Paneer) – homemade or store-bought
• 8-9 tbsp Bajra Flour (Pearl Millet / Kambu Maavu)
• 1 cup grated palm jaggery (karupatti vellam / palm jaggery)
• 1 tsp cardamom powder

Method :

• Dry roast bajra flour on low flame till nice aroma comes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
• Grind crumbled paneer in a mixie until smooth. Transfer it to a bowl. Combine jaggery and ¼ cup water in a pan or kadhai. Once it melts down completely, remove from the heat and strain it to remove impurities. Pour it back to pan and switch the flame to low. 

 

• Add cardamom powder and ground paneer. Keep stirring to avoid lumps. Once paneer is completely dissolved with jaggery syrup, add bajra flour little by little. 

 

• Add 1 tbsp at a time and keep stirring the mixture on low flame. Initially the mixture will be sticky. Once it starts leaving the sides of pan, remove from the heat and allow to cool for a minute. 

• Grease your palm with oil or ghee and start making small lemon sized ladoo. Store in an airtight container.

Notes :

You can replace Bajra with Oats or wheat flour. 

 

Peanut Mawa Ladoo by Viji @ Virunthu Unna Vangga

Diwali have been a festival we always look forward in our family because of my uncle, he used to be the one person who kick-starts the Diwali mood in our family. Weeks before he will start asking when are you making cookies and sweets, and he will be in joyous mood throughout.On Diwali eve, my uncle and me would go to market to buy fruits and meat to give out to our neighbors, and its like a tradition every year since I was a small child. The year he passed away in 2011 was the last my family celebrated Diwali, looking at his picture makes me burst into tears, I'm known as someone very strong in the family and I'm their strength all the while, but that year I was the one who made everyone in the family to cry on an auspicious day. Ok, I'm so carried away with my sad story, let me bring you to the Diwali mood, I have someone special to share a wonderful recipe for 2013 Diwali, that's none other than Vijayalakshmi Dharmaraj from Virunthu Unna Vangga. Now let us welcome her with her superb Peanut Ladoo;

Hi friends, am really very happy to be here to present guest post on Arthy akka’s SUMANARTHY’S KITCHEN. I am really unexpected that I will do the guest in the festival season... I accepted her invite immediately, when she asked me for the guest post. We both were introduced in our FB chat through some of our friends. She is so polite, down-to-earth and affectionate... She always call me Kutty J, I love the way of she calls me... I learnt many healthy tips from akka, but I implemented very few ;) because of my laziness... Here you can see more non-vegetarian recipes with good photographs. I love her photographs with lively ingredients.

Coming to the recipe, during the short time, I couldn’t prepare any traditional recipe so this is my quick and delicious recipe for the guest post... You can make it anytime within 15 minutes, after you tasted the ladoo, you will make it again and again, am sure about it... J Here I used peanut butter and instant mawa to prepare the cute balls...

INGREDIENTS

Peanut butter – ½ Cup

Mawa/Khoya – 5 Tbsp (I used *Instant Mawa)

Powder Sugar – ¼ Cup

Cardamom powder – ½ Tsp

*Instant Mawa

Milk Powder – ½ Cup

Water – 2-3 Tbsp

Ghee – ½ Tsp

Mix everything into pliable dough, cover it with cloth and steam it in idli cooker or pressure pan for 10 minutes on medium flame. Cool it completely, crumble and use it the instant mawa.

METHOD

·       Take a wide mixing bowl, add peanut butter and mawa mix it well till combines well, it looks like        bread crumbs.

·       Now add powder sugar and cardamom powder mix it well.

·       Grease your hand with ghee and take small amount and start rolling to make balls.

·       Garnish with cashew nuts or almonds.

·       Serve it with coffee/tea.

NOTE

·       You can use fresh mawa instead of instant one.

·       Add ghee roasted cashews and raisins in the dough before making ladoos.

        HOPE YOU LOVE THE CUTE LADOOS...

THANK YOU SO MUCH ARTHY AKA FOR THE WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY...

Am really very happy to be here as ARTHY akka’s guest.....

Such a simple yet amazing ladoo isn't it, I'm sure many of you will try making these ladoos at home for Diwali. Do let us know how it turned out for you! Thank you so much Kutty for preparing these delicious ladoos for us. Happy Diwali to you and your family.

Paneer Chocolate Peda by Usha Rani (Mahaslovelyhome)

Diwali is just around the corner, I didn't prepare many things this year, so I have blogger friends sharing on their Diwali sweets and bakes for the month of November. Blogging world have introduced so many good friends in my life, despite the distance of our location we are still keeping in touch and have a little chat every now and then. Today, I have someone who would like to share about herself and her world on blogging. let us see who is that okay;

HAPPY DIWALI READERS,FRIENDS,WELL WISHERS

Hi..I am Usha Rani..Who writes at Mahaslovelyhome..Well, I love eating and at the same time cooking too..More than following the same kind recipes, I  like to try new methods on my own Idea...This year I started working more on blog and at the same I am a busy wife and mother of two little boys..I believe in god and prays to lord shiva specially..MAHA Is an one other name of lord shiva and I choosed it for my kids..Without second thought I created blog name with MAHA..This is a small story behind my blog name..You can find all kind of baking recipes,rice varities and all categories recipes  of daily needed In Mahaslovelyhome. Recently, I started another blog where I share tips for food bloggers called as SOME THING HELPFUL...Your encouraging comments makes me to feel happy and gives more energy to cook and share my Ideas..Hope it continuous for ever..Thank you..

Arthy Suman is a simple,homely girl whom I visited through her blog..I appreciate her interest on cooking and "SUMANARTHYKITCHEN" is one of my most liking blog.I like her Non vegetarian recipes and some of innovative baking recipes too...Even I book marked few and sure will share the results...I also wonders by seeing her patience where she replies to each comment..Recently  In FB I saw her pic in Venisri wedding anniversary album.Love to see the food bloggers and how beautiful when they meets directly..Wish one day I will meet  at least few of our co-bloggers too..After seeing her status "ABOUT GUEST POSTS" in FB I send a message and she replied within seconds..Actually I planned to post this in my blog on DIWALI, but changed the Idea and writing as guest post in her blog. And Iam with double happy to share this recipe in co-blog on festival time.

Thank you so  much for accepting to write a guest post Arthy..I believe,you liked the post and try next If you are Interested..Hope you will..

Once again Personally, 

I WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY AND PEACEFUL DIWALI TO U N UR FAMILY..

ABOUT RECIPE: Ricotta cheese is always in my shopping list and I love to try gravies and sweets with R.C. well,All the co bloggers are busy in festival preparations and their posts tempting me much more and forced to try some thing..While searching fridge, noted this packet and coconut powder and with remaining ingredients created this peda..This is very easy to make and saves your time..You need just 5 INGS and that`s really quick to cook..Try this when you get some paneer in your kitchen and enjoy.

CATEGORY-SWEETS/RICOTTA CHEESE SWEETS/FESTIVAL RECIPES

PREPARATION TIME-10 MINUTES

COOKING TIME-15 MINUTES

WHAT YOU NEED

Ricotta cheese- 300 gms

Sugar-1/2 cup

Cardamom powder-1 tsp

Hershey`s cocoa powder- 2-3 tsps

Desiccated  coconut powder-1/4 cup

HOW TO COOK

Blend Paneer in  mixy jar..

Then heat pan with ghee and add paneer and sir continuously  for 5 minutes in medium flame...

Now add sugar and mix well..You can see some liquid type of consistency..

Keep flame in low and stir without stopping until it thickens..Add in cardamom powder too..

When the time paneer turns tight and hard it will separates from pan...It looks like a ball now and completely dry too..

Once you feel,it is done apply some ghee to plate and keep half of the the paneer dough..

To the remaining paneer add in cocoa and cook for 2 more minutes by mixing every second..Then turn off..

After 5-8 minutes apply some ghee to palms and start making pedas..Take goose berry size plain paneer mix into hands and take the same quantity of choco paneer  mix also..

Combine those and give a shape like PEDA.. (By pressing cookies cutters i got those designs on pedas)..

Yummy Paneer chocolate peda is ready..Serve warm or cold...

MAHAS NOTES

 I ground paneer  directly in the mixy jar..(forgotten removing water from the packet)

So,mine paneer mix is wet for and stirred long time..

If you use store bought ricotta cheese,then drain paneer from water and start grinding.

You can try this fresh home made paneer too..If it looks too thick you can add 1-2 tsps of milk..

Use good quality cocoa powder for best taste.

If you want burphi do like this,cook for few more minutes until it turns dry then spread a paneer layer on plate and on top spread another paneer choco layer and cut into desired shape..After some time separate the slices and serve

You can add some nuts on top for rich look..Try chocolate horlicks powder for a change/if available.

Now isn't that a wonderful sweet for this Diwali? Do try making this Paneer Chocolate Peda for your family and do tell us how it turned out for you !Thank you Usha for sharing such a delectable dish for us today. Happy Diwali to you and your beloved family.

Simple Egg Roast

Ingredients:

4 eggs (hard boiled and shelled)
1 large onion (sliced)
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
A pinch of turmeric powder
1 cup of water

2 tbsp of oil
Salt to taste

In a pan, heat oil and add ginger garlic paste fry for a while then add sliced onion and fry until translucent. Now add in red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and fry until fragrant, then add in garam masala and fry until oil separates. Next pour water and let the masala simmer and thickens. Finally add in salt and eggs, let the eggs absorb the masala. Now our dish is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how was it, enjoy!

Fish Nugget

Hi friends how are you? Many bloggers have started Diwali special posts, this year we are not celebrating as my aunt passed away, so no Diwali posts will be up on my blog. Maybe, I will bake some cake and cookies, not sure of it yet. So now let's get to today's post, I made Fish Nugget few days back only now I get the time to post this here. 

During my childhood I don't prefer having fish whether fried, in curry or done anyway except for sharkfish, string ray or pomfret, not because of anything but I'm scared of the tiny bones in it, I was a very fussy eater and tortures mom so much.  I have been choked many times, how careful I eat also I end up choking and will vomit the whole day to remove the bones. 

When I went to study in university, I never ever eat fish as I feel its not prepared hygienically and the fishy smell kills me. So those days, I used to crave for mom's fish dishes and during every semester break I go back I will request mom to make fish dishes for me. All the dishes mom makes I used to crave for, mom will be so happily cook for me as I changed from a fussy eater to anything mom cooks I will eat.

Okay now coming back to our post today, I made Fish Nugget from the Dory fillet that I bought few days ago. I was thinking what to make and end up making nuggets but I cut into bigger chunks. You can cut into the size you prefer.

Ingredients:

500gm of fish fillet (cut into bite size pieces)

1 cup of multi purpose flour (KFC)

2 eggs beaten

2 tbsp of chilli flakes

1 tsp of black pepper

Mix multi purpose flour with black pepper and keep it aside, the flour contains salt so I didn't add any extra salt. Cut fish and dry it with paper towels and dip it into beaten egg, next dip it into flour, remove excess flour and fry it in hot oil until its golden brown. 

Remove fried fish from oil and drain it to remove excess oil, before serving sprinkle some chilli flakes to the fish nuggets. Now our Fish Nugget is ready to be served, you can serve Mayonnaise, Chilli Sauce, Ketchup or Tartar Sauce as dipping for the nuggets.

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Onion Raita My Style

Ingredients:

5 onions (chopped finely)
3 tbsp of mayonnaise
1/2 cup of plain yogurt

Mix all the above ingredients together and chill before serving.  Garnish with chopped coriander. Best served chilled.

This is very simple to prepare isn't it? Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Honey Lemon Drink

Ingredients:

2 large lemon (squeeze the juice)
1/4 cup of honey
500 ml of ice cold water
Dash of salt

In a pitcher, mix lemon juice, honey, salt and water. Make sure the honey is completely dissolved. You can adjust the amount of honey to be added depending on your preference, you can also add some ice cubes if you want it to be cold as cold to give you brain freeze. I prefer to drink without ice cubes and chill before drinking. You can also have this as hot or warm drink, it tastes better than the chilled ones.

Tandoori Chicken Briyani

Hi friends, I'm glad to share another recipe with you all Tandoori Chicken Briyani, some of you may have tried this dish before but this is the very first time for me. I got this idea from sis Love's Grilled Chicken Briyani, I fell in love with the preparation the moment she post it on her blog, thanks sis. I have used her idea and made some changes in my briyani, I have used Tandoori Chicken that I have prepared earlier (purposely to use for this briyani). We loved the Tandoori Chicken Briyani, it was so delicious and healthy. Now let us see how to make this briyani:

Ingredients:

500 gm of Tandoori Chicken
2 cups of Basmathi rice or any kind
2 1/2 cups of water (ratio depending on the rice you use)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp of tandoori powder
A bunch of coriander leaves
2 large onions (deep fried until brown)
A  few drops of yellow coloring/saffron
1 tomato (chopped)
1 green chilli (slit)
1 pc of cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
2 star anise
2 cloves
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of ghee

You have to prepare the tandoori chicken before you cook the rice, you can prepare in advance or right before you cook the rice. Now let us prepare the ingredients for rice, make sure you wash the rice until the water runs clear, then drain and keep aside.

In a pan, pour ghee and add cinnamon stick, cardamom, star anise, cloves, green chilli, onion and ginger garlic paste, stir all these until it releases the wonderful aroma. Next add chopped tomato and tandoori powder and fry until tomato turns mushy, then add rice and mix well.

Transfer all the ingredients above to a rice cooker and add water and salt, let the rice cook until its fluffy and dry. Now add the yellow coloring, place the chicken pieces on the rice, add fried onions and coriander leaves, close the cooker's lid until you are ready to serve the rice.

Gently mix the cooked rice, and now our Tandoori Chicken Briyani is ready to be served. I have served this with Onion Raita.

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Pan-Seared Tandoori Chicken

Wow, it has been three months since I update my blog....it has been crying every day and night because I have abandoned it for so long. So many blogger friends also have been asking why I'm not updating my blog. Before I tell you the reason for my disappearance, let me apologize to all of you for not updating my space and also for not visiting your spaces, I'm very sorry dear friends. Okay, now let me tell why I went missing, I have been very very busy with packing and shifting to the new house. It took such a long time for me to pack, move out, unpack and settle down, by the time we settled down laziness have set in and I couldn't snap any pictures for blog. 

I have been cooking a lot lately but did not snap any pictures as you all know how time consuming setting the food and writing for the post. I think enough stories told, let us get to recipe. I have bought a box of tandoori powder a couple of days ago and have been planning to make Tandoori Chicken, I have used boneless chicken pieces to make this and it looks something like Chicken Tikka. Now let us see how to make this delicious, mouth-watering Tandoori Chicken my style;

Ingredients:

500gm of boneless chicken (cut into bite size chunks)
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 tbsp of lemon/lime juice
1 tbsp of Tandoori powder (store bought)
A few drops of red coloring
Salt to taste
Oil/ Ghee for Pan Searing

Mix chicken, yogurt, lemon/lime juice, tandoori powder, red coloring and salt, mix everything and marinate for minimum 4 hours or over night. I have marinated over night in the fridge.

So after marinating, heat a flat frying pan or griddle pour some ghee or oil and sear the marinated chicken pieces until it is cooked and has some char marks on it. Do not crowd the griddle, give enough room for the chicken to be moved, cook everything in batches and keep aside.

Now our Pan-Seared Tandoori Chicken is ready to be served with slices of lemon and onions.

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Onion Omelette

Ingredients:

2 large eggs (beaten with 2 tbsp of water and salt)
1 tbsp of coriander leaves (chopped)
2 tbsp of grated cheese
2 onions (diced)
3 cherry tomato (cut into half)
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
1 tbsp of olive oil

In a pan, heat oil and fry onion until translucent and pour beaten eggs, top it with grated cheese and pepper. Let it cook and add chopped coriander leaves, then flip the omelette to cook on the other side. Now our Onion Omelette is ready to be served, garnish with cherry tomato. Best eaten while its hot.

Do try and enjoy!