A Plate Of...

See what's been on our menu over past few weeks!  I assure they tasted as yummy as they look here... Now if you need details on the recipe, pls do feel free to reach out to my resident-chef Pheno :-D (errr blame him for this food-porn too)

Golgappas with  a difference anybody - That dash of Vodka makes a difference Indeed :-D

Savory Tarts :-D

Now for this finger-licking good Pork Rib came from Cory :-D

Linking this to AtoZ challenge - P is for Panipuri\Pie\PorkRibs :-D

Ramasseri Idlis....

Idlis is a staple breakfast in almost all south Indian Homes. Each region has its own slight variation - - from your regular idlis to Kushboo Idli to Thatte Idlis. A good 30 years of living in South India and just as you think you have sampled the entire plethora of Idlis  - there comes another that is subtly different from everything else you have tasted...

'Ramasseri Idli'...... from the village of Ramasseri a few kms off Palaghat district in Kerala. These idlis seem more like steamed version of Mini dosas - So thin and flat are they! Here is a picture of the idli we had for breakfast one of those days.......

Am told that in this part of Kerala, Ramasseri Idli is a regular item during feasts at home and hotels. But of course, we had to drive the extra 10 -15 kms to Ramaserri village and sample the 'original'(cue to roll eyes)

You could read more about Ramasseri Idli and its cooking procedure here


Linking this to AtoZ challenge - I is for Idli. N thus we head off to Palaghat and its interiors for the next few days.....

Eating in Kolhapur..

Kolhapur was the pit-stop on our Bangalore-Mumbai road trip. Of course, it was a conscious stop considering this place is synonymous with its non-veg cuisine :).

This is how our dinner plate looked like that evening. Now, this is the interesting bit - you'll see two kinds of gravy - the red and the white one.  The white\green gravy is called "Pandra Raasa" and its mildness is the perfect foil for "Tambda Raasa" which is a fiery hot red gravy!

For breakfast next day morning, we landed at Phadtare Misal Paav. This is a no-frill, modest eatery open only for breakfast and the only item in the menu is Misal-Paav. Its rated as one among the best in  Kolhapur and it truly didn't disappoint( Of course am no expert on Misal, but it was definetely lip smacking good).......

Of course, no trip to Kolhapur is complete without picking up these famous Kolhapuris....

 

Linking this to AtoZ challenge  E is for Eating@Kolhapur

The quintessential Indian Meal....

... is Never complete without a dash of Green chilli, onion smeared with salt n pepper!

N yes there are connoisseurs of good food who swear by this... Ma hubbs being one point in case!

Linking this to ABC Wednesdays (Q is for quintessential )

Ayubowan!

Ages I hv managed to take a peep into ma blog and so Ayobowan it indeed is for me and for any lone reader left! So what kept me away? Well at times you get so lost with soaking in simple  moments of life(viz. spending time with mom n sis) that blogging is the last thing in your mind... Indeed this statement surprises me as much as not missing the blogging!

So in an attempt to keep the blog alive, am leaving u with a recipe of a dish thats been figuring right at the top of ma hubbs fav list the past week ~~ If u know ma hubbs remotely n so are now pukka tht its gona be a non veg dish or possibly a cocktail then well well heres a shocker for u! This is a coconut based dish... Yea u heard it rt! N for those of u who dono him ~~ The pseudo mallu he is, coconut n him are like poles apart ~~ He runs off at the v whiff of coconut oil `` So he taking to this like fish to water is a shocker! Now with no more diversions, heres the recipe:

Mix together grated coconut, finely chopped onions, red chilly powder, lime juice, salt and there u hv the pol sambal ready! Trust me its yummmmm ..... Gos perfectly with rice, sevai n such!!!!

Pic Courtesy: Google!

Now go ahead google up the words "Ayubowan", "Pol Smbal" and u possibly know where I was headed to the last week!

The Modak Story....

So come chaturthi this time, I or rather we were all geared up to dish out modaks! .Was reading up a few blogs here n there looking up for recipes(I know mommy is a call away... n well tht is what I would still end up doing but me a blogger na... so gotta do some justice to it too)......n the general feedback on kozkattai making seemed to be 'Tricky', 'can-go-wrong'.........Was surp when I read tht cause hv seen ma mommy making it with no fuss..... But well guess tht is why they are mommies hey!!

So with gr8 enthusiasm all raw materials were gathered n within no time do i get filling ready(Ok ok coconut scrapped by hubbs dear himself) n the outer covering too but tht ended up a little sticky (Blame it on ma hubbs thou not me).... n then with ubber confidence tried spreading it out n well there ends ma story... too soggy, wouldn't spread out, sticky... blah blah blah.....

N there comes ma saviour... ma hubbs dearest.....  N with all his airs manages to dish out the purrrrfect kozkattai... they were yum I swear! Lemme take a little more credit here... The steaming part... getting the idli cooker ready, loading it up all me did.... But again the green signal to take them out was given by him!!!

Now this ma friends is the story of each cooking episode at home... until its some roti-n-dal... welll hv been making it for soooo many times now tht it atleast is edible if not mouthwatering .... for everything else the story is the same.... me does the donkey work but the subtle difference in taste would need ma hubbs involvement... I tell ya this man's true calling in life must be cooking! Runs in his family I think.... the dishes ma MIL N her mother dishes out are truly yum yum :)! Yea Yea I know I am smart in choosing ma life partner.... oooooo!!!

All happy-dory? Now I hv a q? Does this mean tht my child(to be read as singular, masculine n future-tense) will clamour for 'papa-ka-haatha-ka-kaana' instead of 'maa-ki-haath-ka-kaana'... na na me not complaining... was just wondering aloud :-D

I Baked a Chocolate Cake!

Yeah Yeah Yeah! Stop rolling your eyes and no its not some easy breezy cake mix that you put in oven and in a zap comes out the cake!! N No its no book's name either!
This was made from scratch with all raw materials ..maida, coco powder, egg, mika, sugar n alll!! Still dont believe me...well well they say a picture is worth thousand words...then so be it!!

Hmm ok now u thinking this looks v amateurish n there is a slight probability that she made it but but but there has gotta be a catch :-D. Sad I say!!

psssst.....yeah yeah there is indeed a catch...Just hop on here to know why!! Easy huh?? N now u become a cake making pro just like me!!! Hee hee hee!! Ha N I bet now u like "what the hell!! Does this work??" Exactly what I thot but trust me it does n it truly yummily does! N u MR.Tintin am sure this would be now a part of ur showing-off-to girls routine!!

May be you could add a few dry fruits n a dash of rum to it n bake or may be have it with chocolate sauce to make it truly relishing (U impressed with my culinary ideas ha! Well well I'll pass on the compliments to my hubbs :-D)

Yours truly was so excited with this culinary discovery that I couldn’t wait to blog it! But as I write this I have my tongue literally hanging out and all salivating!! No No No, dont shake ur head n say Kodhichi(hogger in malayalam)! Its the result of a disaster tht followed!


As yours truly was fetching the bottle of chocolate sauce , there was a drop of what she thot was the chocolate n the kodichi that she indeed is , licked it clean only to realize that it was instead a god damn drop of spicy concentrated chilly n then what followed was something akin to a war dance! Tongue kept under running water, bottles of water n curd at last bought some solace!

What a start to weekend u say!! But now do u believe that am indeed being made to cook...sob sob sob! N dearies before u say it, lemme clarify in the chocolate cake the only contribution of my hubbs was to whisk it all up!!!

What's cooking doc??

No no no...the post isnt abt any doc trying his hands at cooking. Actually it has nothing to do with a doc at all!! The title is a cartoon from the Bugs Bunny series. Incase u r rolling ur eyes n thinking "Ofcourse I know wht the title is abt" lemme clarify I am one of these cartoon-ignorant mortals who still exist on earth and this title is courtesy my hubbs!! So the post is abt a cartoon review??? Ha sorry but u got it wrong!! Its but a simple post on wht was cooked in my kitchen today......now please stop rolling ur eyes again n thinking "All drama for nothing"!!

Whts so spl abt it u say?? U wouldnt believe it but I cooked 3 complete meals on saturday....dosa with chutney(nee leftover of friday's chutney), complete lunch n dinner!!! OMG!! Guess in my 25+ years of existence its the first time this unimaginable feat has been achieved!! Yeap yeap a round of applause for me please :)

So without any further deviations lemme get straight into the subject...wht was on lunch today... Chinese potato fry, tomato pachadi (google it in case u havent heard of it), pavvakya fry(dried karela bought from shop n all u gotta do is deep fry it) n ofcourse rice...A full fledged meal u agree!!(please stop rolling ur eyes...its more than full fledged in my standards)!!

So whts the big deal u ask...please go back to the first item in the menu....chinese potato fry!! No no no itsnt ur regular potato neither is it a exotic vegetable! Incase u r from some part of God's own country u'll know it as 'Koorka'!! Ho yeap yeap this is abt the simple - earthly(literally earthly cause its coated with mud when u buy it) koorka!! N for the non mallu readers am afraid I couldnt come up with any other colloquial term...but may be the below pic(courtesy google ofcourse)will help!!

The amazing(or not so amazing aspects) of these eartly - vegatebles are how they require you to go back to basics- ur vegtable processors, mocrowaves are no help here!! The basic cleaning of this in itself is a amusing(yeap yeap amusing is the word) - Bundle up the koorka into a cloth (or a sack...well sack is no option in ma home. so I restored to a almost tattered bedsheet) and hit it hard against a concrete surface....This helps in separating the mud out!! N if u think now ur vegetable is ready to be used u cant be more mistaken - U need to wash them under running water unteem number of times before the original colors of koorka show up(The pic comparisions of above n below talks for itslef)!!

Now u pressure cook, peel the skin(ala boiled potato) and at last its ready to be used into a stir fry ....Into basic tadka add red chutney(red chilly-onion chutney) n dump the boiled koorka...Cook it up n yummy koorka is ready to eat!!

So am I gonna try this again?? I doubt it cause getting my hubbs to do the cleaning part of it next time around is gonna be no joke!! This is the first time around we tried it n the peter pan tht he is, he was more than happy to oblige but the next time am not so sure!!!

Ha n with this comes the first ever cookery post of mine(one in 50+)...Ha did somebody rightly say tht blog is a true reflection of the blogger!!! So wht made me blog thisWell should be the 'amusing' cleaning!!!