Okra Fried Rice

     
          Everybody loves okra (lady'sfinger or vendikkai) at home, at least in mine, add it to a sambar or make a curry, I have no complaints. But,I never thought that I could make a rice with it, okra being the slimy one. I had jotted down this recipe very long time back and totally forgot about it. When I pulled it out today, I noted that I didn't have a couple of ingredients needed for the dish, but that didn't hold me back. My mind was made up to make it, one way or the other, and so finally I ended up making my own version, it's a very simple and easy one, all those okra lovers out there should definitely give this a try..

Need To Have

• Basmati Rice - 1 + 1/2 cup
• Okra - 2 cups sliced
• Scallions Or Spring Onions - 10 to 12 stalks
• Garlic - 4 pods grated
• Sambal Paste - 2 tablespoons
• Soy Sauce - 5 tablespoons
• Roasted Peanuts - 1/2 cup
• Salt And Pepper - to taste

Saute the okra well

Add the spring onions and sambal paste

Add the rice and the peanuts

Method 
          Cook the rice with little salt and oil and cool it, the rice should not be mushy. Chop the scallions and keep the green and white part separately. Heat oil, add the garlic, saute for a few mins, add okra, saute well uncovered, till it is cooked but crunchy and crispy. Now add the sambal paste, soy sauce and the chopped  spring onions, saving some green part of it for garnish, saute some more time. Now add the cooked rice and peanuts, mix everything up, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm, garnished with the scallions, some more peanuts with some soy sauce on the side.

Sending it off to Let's Cook - Rice event at Radhika's Tickling Palates.

Note
Can add some shallow fried tofu or even some scrambled eggs, will definitely make it more tastier. I didn't add because I served it with a tofu curry.
If you don't have the sambal paste, which is basically red chilliies ground coarsely, add some chilli flakes.

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Cauliflower And Methi Paratha

   
          I try to make parathas at least once in two weeks, an ideal weekend lunch or brunch. As the parathas  have some kind of vegetable stuffed with, I usually serve it with some pickle, curd and a salad on the side. I've never tried anything other than aloo parthas or radish parathas, this is my first attempt to make these cauliflower parathas, the thought of grating the cauliflower so finely had put me off, but my new food processor made the job easier. I added methi for the extra flavor, and for a first try they turned out to be too good..


For The Stuffing

• Cauliflower - 1 small grated
• Methi - 3/4 cup chopped very finely
• Onion - 1 medium finely minced
• Garlic - 3 pods grated
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chilli Powder - 2 teaspoon
• Roasted Cumin Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Amchur Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

For the Outer Layer

• Whole Wheat Atta - 3 cups
• Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon
• Curd - 1/4 cup
• Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Grated cauliflower, minced onion and chopped methi

Saute the onion and garlic

Add the methi and the powders

Add the cauliflower

The stuffing

Method 
           Prepare the dough for the outer layer mixing up all the ingredients and enough water. For the stuffing, heat some oil, add the mustard seeds, once the spluttering stops, add the garlic and onion, saute for at least 5 mins, add the chopped methi, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt, saute for few more mins. Now, add the cauliflower, mix well and cook till dry, then add the cumin and amchur powders and mix well.

Place the stuffing

Fold the dough over the stuffing

Roll the parathas

Cook it on both sides

To Make The Parathas
          Take a big lemon size ball of the dough, roll it slightly, keep a big marble size filling, close the dough over and make a ball one more time, then using some flour, roll it out carefully into parathas. Put them on a hot tawa, adding some oil cook them on both sides for a couple of mins, till you see brown spots. Serve them hot with some pickle and curd.

Sending this to Vardhini who is guest hosting Healing Foods - Cauliflower Event for Siri.

Note 
This is how I rolled out the parathas, after making the ball with the stuffing, roll it first halfway on the side which we closed the dough over the filling, then flip it over, apply some flour and roll it on the other side, this way I got to make thin parathas without much mess.

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Krostoli & fritule

Nedavno sam promijenila posao,ma ovo sto sada radim je posao na poziv i ima me svugdje.

Razlicite ustanove,razliciti ljudi.

Zadnjih pet nedjelja sam radila u Scalabrini vilage..koji ima 80 stanara,svi pokretni,pricljivi,jos samo ako bi ih razumjeli :)

Tu se prica engleski,talijanski,njemacki,madarski i naravno nas jezik ex-Yu jer nasih radnika ima svuda :)

Posto je vrijeme karnevala zadnji vikend sam im pripremila iznenzadenje..puuuno fritula i krostula..i zasista su bili odusevljeni jer im nitko nije tu vrstu poslalstice spremao,nazalost a tako je vole.

Posto nisam uspjela nista od toga da probam,morala sam ponoviti kod kuce,pa i moje ukucane i komsije,naravno da razveselim !!:)




FRITULE/ustipci/doughnuts/spingi

Sve su to nazivi za jednu te istu poslasticu.

Da bi je napravili treba vam:

7gr suhog kvasca
3 zlicice secera
500gr samodizajuceg brasna
(u branu vec ima dodan prasak za pecivo,ako nemate to brasno,dodajte 1 prasak za pecivo na 500gr obicnog brasna)

100gr grozdica
korica od limuna-narendati

250ml vode/mlijeka za aktivitari kvasac + 150ml da se zamijesi tijesto
ulje za przenje


Aktivirati kvasac u 250ml tople vode ili mlijeka.
Ja dodam u brasno odmah i sve ostale sastojke,zamijesim tijesto koje mora biti ljepljivo.

Ostaviti tijesto na "naraste".

Ulje zagrijati na 160C..

...lako provjerimo toplinu ulja na ovaj nacin.

Ubacimo kockicu kruha i za 30 sekundi mora da bude zlatno zute boje,ako je braon ,znaci ulje je previse toplo i ustipci ce se przo ispeci,dobiti boju izvana a unutra ce ostati sirovi,skloniti ulje malo na stranu da se sprijeci postizanje vece temperature i za par sekundi ponovo vratiti na ringlu i ponoviti probu sa kruhom..ovo isto vazi i za przenje krostula !!

Umakati zlicu u ulje,zagrabiti zlicom tijesto koje lagano spustimo u toplo ulje gdje cemo ustipke prziti.

Prziti ih oko 5minuta,da ne ostanu sirovi unutra..vaditi na papirnu salvetu kako bi upilo papir sdto vise masnoce.



Zatim ih uvaljati u sitniji secer(caster sugar).


KROSTOLI



40gr maslaca
50gr secera
2jaja
30ml lozovace rakije
(moze bilo koji alkohol)
oko 450gr brasna
ulje za przenje
secer za posipanje

U zdjelu staviti omeksali maslac i secer i mutiti da "pobijeli',dodati jaja i sve ostale namirnice,te zamijesiti tvrdo tijesto.

Zamotati u prozirnu foliju i ostaviti na neko vrijeme u frizider,ja sam ostavila preko noci.
Sutradan ili nakon 1 sat,tijesto podijeliti na vise trakica i malo razviti oklagijom,zatim pomocu masine za rezance istanjiti do zeljene debljine.



Tijesto izrezati na rane trakice,pa umotati u cvorice ili jednostavno krace trake,koje prziti na ulju koje smo zagrijali do 160c !

Prze se brzo,zato treba pripremiti tacnu sa papirnim salvetama i na njih odlagati pecene krostule da salvete pokupe masnocu.



Krostule posuti secerom u prahu i posluziti !!!!!!!

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Bottlegourd In Peanut Sauce

          Bottlegourd or Sorakkai in Tamil, is a very bland vegetable, because of that, it can blend itself into any kind of dish, be it sweet or savory, it gets it taste from the other ingredients. Usually I make a kootu or dal or more kuzhambu with it, today for a change I made a peanut gravy with the vegetable. I was not too sure of the finished dish, but it turned out to be really rich and delicious..


Need To Have

• Bottlegourd - 2 cups chopped
• Capsicum - 1/2 chopped
• Tomato - 1 big chopped
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - a sprig
• Coriander Leaves - to garnish

Roast And Grind

• Peanuts - 1/4 cup
• Coriander Seeds - 1 + 1/2 tablespoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Sesame Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon 
• Green Chillies - 4 or 5
• Ginger - 1 tablespoon chopped

Grind the ingredients under roast and grind

Add the paste and saute

Add the bottlegourd and tomatoes

Method
          Dry roast the peanuts separately and the green chillies and ginger separately in a drop of oil. Roast the remaining ingredients, adding the sesame seeds last, grind everything into paste. Heat oil in a pressure pan, add the mustard and cumin seeds, once they stop spluttering, add the curry leaves, followed by the capsicum, saute for 3 mins, add the ground paste, mix for few mins. Now add the bottlegourd and the tomato, mix everything for some more time, add enough water (3 cups or more), close the lid. After one whistle, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 7 mins. Remove, garnish with the chopped coriander and serve warm with rotis or any kind of mixed rice, we had ours with ragi rotis.

Sending this to Veggie/ Fruit A Month Event created by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan and hosted by Raji of Vegetarian Tastebuds.

Note
Do not avoid the capsicum, that gives a nice flavor.
If your tomatoes are very tart, reduce them accordingly.

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Slanutak/leblebija

Malo da se odmorimo od nakuhavanja i posegnemo za namirnicama koje bas ne upotrebljavamo tako cesto u ishrani.


Ja doduse dosta koristim slanutak u varivu i salatama,ali evo jednog interesantnog recepta za polpetu/burger od slanutka.






Potrebno je:

400gr slanutka

(iz konzerve,bez dodatka soli)

1 luk
1 zlica curry-a
1 mrkva
1 casa mrvica od kruha
1 jaje

domaci kruh za sendvice
paradajz,zelena salata,jogurt,..

Najprije sam napravila domaci kruh.




Zatim sam sitno isjeckala luk i uz malo maslinovog ulja proprzila.
Tako proprzen ostaviti na stranu.


U sjeckali sam usitnila mrkvu i dodala je u luk.

Iscjedila sam slanutak od vode,isprala pod mlazom vode i usitnila u sjeckalici te sam i njega dodala k mjesavini luka i mrkve.

sve dobro promijesati,dodati kurry u prahu,jaje i mrvice.

*Mrvice sam napravila od krutom kruha koji sam pravila isti dan za juhu od tikve,tako da su dali poseban "smek"mjer ja u kruton dodam maslinovo ulje i origano i tako ih pecem u rerni.





Od dobivene smjese napraviti 4 manja burgera/polpete/snicle...

Ipeci sa obje strane samo toliko da se uhvati korica.


Kruh malo zapeci u tosteru ili na tavi,premazati sa malo kiselog vrhnja/jogurta i staviti peceni burger/polpetu,par snitica paradajza i salate.

Posluziti uz dodatnu salatu ili jogurt.

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Chana Thakkali Kuzhambu

          Only very few dishes go well with everything, like idlis, dosas, rotis, puris, pulaos or just mixed with plain white rice, this is one such, usually I make it without even adding the chana, just with some small onions. Today I added chana and made it protein-rich, you can make it with brinjals, potatoes and even with mushrooms. This definitely tastes different from the usual chana masala, so try this, I am sure you'll like it..


Need To Have

• Chana - 1 + 1/2 cups
• Tomato Puree - 2 + 1/2 cups
• Manathakkali Vathal - 2 teaspoons
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coconut - 1 tablespoon
• Curry Leaves - a sprig

Roast And Grind

• Coriander Seeds - 1 + 1/2 tablespoons
• Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Sesame Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chana Dal - 1 teaspoon
• Urad Dal - 1 teaspoon
• Black Peppercorns - 1 teaspoon
• Dried Red Chillies - 2

Method
          Soak the chana overnight and pressure cook them. Roast all the ingredients given under roast-and-grind and make a paste with the coconut and  2 tablespoons of the cooked chana. Take the tomato puree, add the paste, turmeric powder, salt and enough water, mix well and keep. Heat oil, add the manathakkali vathal and the curry leaves, when the sizzling stops, pour in the tomato mixture and the chana, boil and simmer for 7 to 10 mins. Remove and serve with whatever you are planning to have that day, idli, dosa, etc..

Sending this to Saffron Streaks who is hosting the Cooking With Seeds event this month, which was started by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.

Note 
For those who are not familiar with manathakkali vathal, it is the sun dried seeds of the manathakkali plant, it is available in the grocery stores in India, it looks like peppercorns ( a little lighter shade), but not as hard. If you don't find them, just do the seasoning with mustard and fenugreek seeds.
The tomatoes available here are never very sour, use the fleshy tomatoes, not the small tart ones.
 Adjust the red chillies to your taste, mine are very spicy, so I use only two.

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Chocolate And Carrot Cupcakes

   
          I am a novice when it comes to baking, have not yet tried my hand in anything fancy yet. The most I have done, is some brownies, muffins and some simple cakes. These cupcakes are again very easy and a no-fail recipe,  if I can do it, then anyone can do it. My daughter loves anything with chocolate, a dark chocolate lover, so I made it a chocolate cupcake and I added some grated carrots, just like that. It turned out very spongy and yummy..

Need To Have

• All Purpose Flour Or Maida - 1 cup
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup
• Grated Carrot - 1 cup
• Brown Sugar - 1 cup, packed
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 1/4 cup
• Egg - 1
• Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
• Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon
• Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Method
          Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Beat the one egg well, add the sugar, mix one more time, add the oil and the curd and the vanilla extract, mix them all well. Now add the flour, cocoa powder mix, fold everything in, making sure that there are no lumps, finally add the grated carrot, give one final stir. Line the muffin pans with muffin liners, spoon the batter in and bake it at 350F for 15 mins. I used mini-muffin pans and I got 24 of them and I left out the frosting part.

Sending them to Srav's Culinary Concepts for the Chocolate Fest.

Also sending them to Kid's Delight event guest hosted by Kavi of Edible Entertainment for Srivalli.

Note
Keep a watch on the cakes after 10 mins, if you are using the mini muffin pans.
Our cakes were not very sweet, it was perfect for us, you can increase the sugar by another half cup if you want it really sweet.
There was no carrots to be seen, they blended well with the brown chocolaty color.

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Nela snite

Davno je bilo ali se rado sjetim moje najstarije sestre Ane i njenih prekrasnih kolaca...

Ma koliko pokusavala da je kopiram,ja ne uspjevam..ona je to znala da uradi perfektno,samouka sve sto je vidjela,to je i uradila.

Sada su njene kcerke preuzele tu obavezu a ona odmara i ponekada jos napravi koji kolac da ne zaboravi....





NELA SNITE


Crni/tamni biskvit

7 zumanjaka
1 jaje
120gr secera
120gr oraha
100gr otopljene cokolade
1 zlica brasna

Bijeli biskvit

7 bjelanjaka
200gr secera
200gr badema
2 zlice brasna + 1/2 zlicice praska za pecivo
Fil/krema
3 cjela jaja
150gr secera
150gr cokolade
250gr maslaca






Fil/krema

3 cjela jaja
150gr secera
150gr cokolade
250gr maslaca

Jaja i secer dobro umutiti i kuhati nad parom dok se volumen ne udupla..smjesa ce postati jako gusta kada je gotova,umucena.Dodati cokoladu i nastaviti rucno mijesati(ja inace mutim mixerom)a cokoladu rucno dok se ne otopi.U prohladeno dodati maslac sobne temperature i sve dobro izmutiti mixerom u finu kremu.

Cokoladna glazura

200gr cokolade

Napraviti bijeli biskvit.
Umutiti bjelanjke sa secerom,zatim rucno laganim pokretima umijesati mljevene bademe i brasno sa malo praska za pecivo.

Staviti peci na 180C oko 35 minuta.

Temperatura moze biti i veca do 200C a duzina pecenja se treba provjeriti nakon 30 minuta !

Crni/Tamni biskvit.

Otopiti cokoladu na pari ili u mikrovalnoj i prohladiti.
Zumanjke+1cjelo jaje dobro izmutiti,da zapjeni i smjesa dobije svijetlu boju.

dodati prohladenu cokoladu u umucena zumanjke,izmijesati da se smjesa poveze.
Dodati brasno s malo praska za pecivo
(1/2 zlicice)i mljevene orahe.


Smjesu sipati u tepsiju iste velicine koju ste koristitli za pecenje prvog biskvita.
Ja sam koristila tepsiju dimenzija 30x20cm.


Peci na 180C oko 45 minuta.

Nisam zapisala kako se snite/kolac slazu,pa sam po svojoj zelji napravila ovakav redoslijed.

Rasjekla sam vodoravno bijeli biskvit i izmedu stavila tamni..naravno premazala sam filom izmedu svakog biskvita.
Ukrasitim po zelji,cokoladna glazura ili ostaviti malo fila pa premazati odozgo i posuti mljevenim orasima !!!!!!

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Beetroot Soup

          The cold weather here makes one crave for some kind of soup, either the creamier version or the lighter soups. Personally I like the clear soups, spiced up with lots of pepper, sometimes even the hot rasam is more than welcome. As a kid I used to like beets just for the color, loved the tongue turning pink after eating them, liked to have them with curd rice, just to see the white rice become pink. Usually it's the beetroot poriyal and on occasions the beetroot halwa, especially when my amma made it and gave me hot, hot. Today's soup is the husband's favorite, it's one simple and easy soup with literally very few ingredients..
Need To Have

• Grated Beetroot - 2 cups
• Chopped Tomatoes - 2 cups
• Salt & Pepper - to taste
• Lemon Juice - to taste

Method
          Take the beetroot and the tomatoes in a big pan, add 7 to 8 cups of water and bring it to boil with some salt. Simmer it for about 10 mins, mashing down the tomatoes, to bring out all the juice. Remove and strain, add some pepper, and serve it with a squeeze of lemon and some bread croutons.

Sending it to Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes to take part in the Healthy Diet-Warm Soups event.

Also sending to Taste Of Pearl City for the Any One Can Cook event.

Note
The tomatoes that we get here are never sour enough, adjust the amount of tomatoes accordingly.
Don't avoid the lemon juice, that gives an extra punch.

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Cracked Wheat And Spinach Idli

          I was telling my daughter the other day, that when I was in school, most of the days my breakfast used to be idlis and some days I had taken that for lunch too, and how I used to be bored with them. My daughter replied, saying that I was very lucky, that I had idlis every day, she's one big idli fan, she even went one step further, saying that she would go on an idli marathon for a week. This being the case, I make idlis very often, but try to make some variation in them, one such is this cracked wheat idli. I added some spinach and chana dal to make it more interesting and more nutritious..

Need To Have

• Cracked Wheat - 2 + 1/2 cups
• Curd - 2 cups
• Spinach - chopped 2 cups, packed
• Ginger - 1 tablespoon, grated 
• Chana Dal - 1/4 cup
• Mustard Seed - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 1 sprig

Roast the Cracked Wheat

Saute the spinach and the chana dal

Add it to the soaked cracked wheat

Pour the batter in idli moulds

Method
          Soak the chana dal in water for an hour. Roast the cracked wheat in a little oil and soak it in the curd and a cup of water for 45 mins to an hour. Heat oil, add the mustard and the cumin seeds, once they stop spluttering, add the asafoetida and the curry leaves. Now add the drained chana dal, stir for a minute or two and add the spinach, salt and grated ginger, mix well for a couple of mins. Remove and add this to the soaked cracked wheat, mix everything well, the batter should be thick like rava idli batter. Pour this into idli moulds and steam them for 20 mins. Enjoy them warm with the chutney of your choice, we had ours with Peanut Mint Chutney.

Sending them off to Vardhini of Zesty Palette to take part in the New "U" event.

Also sending it to Krithi's Kitchen for the Wholesome Wholegrain Cooking event she is guest hosting for Sanjeeta.

Note
Use the very fine variety of cracked wheat to make these idlis.
Wait for a couple of mins before removing the cooked idlis from the idli mould.
I used frozen spinach, you can use fresh or for people in India you can try with other keerais too.

     

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