Foodie Woes.....

There was no way we could let our blogs just sit and rot, while we blamed everyone but ourselves for not writing. Deciding to put an end to the hiatus on writing, me and Ishithaa have decided to write on every day of November on alternate days. Today if the post is on my page, tomorrow it will be on hers.....

  I am known to gloat over my eating habits. Throw me to any corner of the world and I will not starve. In fact, my excitement is directly proportional to the "exotic" quotient of the food! I will be one of those who when handed over a menu card at a restaurant, will order the most "unheard of" item on it. Of course it helps to have a "partner in crime" right at home in my hubbs! In fact I may even be guilty of turning down my nose on everyday Indian food (and people who prefer it)..... ***Evil Grin****

So imagine my surprise, when all I wanted to eat were good old "comfort" food. From the humble Kerala veggie dishes that my grandmother used to dish up in my childhood to discovering an unheard of craving for Andhra food and sweets. Who had imagined my Hyderabad roots were so strong. The biggest shock was when non-veg food started going down the preferential list- I’m sure my grandmother must be having the last laugh! **Ohh the horror**

 Can you guess that I am in absolute shock and dismay. Hopefully this is a phase that will go away soon! So here's sharing a recipe of one of my current favourites - the ever favorite Kerala Dessert "Ela Ada". The recipe is courtesy my Ishi who is an expert on Kerala Cuisine (or at least claims to be :-D)

• Boil 2 cups of water and add a spoon of salt to it. When the water starts boiling, add the roasted rice powder (approx 3 cups) to it and mix well. Knead well, making sure that the dough is not too dry or watery. The consistency of kneaded dough for making rotis works well for ela ada as well. 
• Cut plaintain leaves in such a manner that they are the size of a notebook. One whole leaf can make upto 4 or 5 such pieces, depending on the total length of the leaf. 
• Make one lemon sized ball of the kneaded rice flour and spread it in the plaintain leaf, using your hand. Spread evenly and then into this spread the mixture of coconut and jaggery that are grated. You can also make a simpler version of this by replacing the jaggery with sugar. 
• Fold the leaf along the stem. Arrange all such folded leaves in an idly steamer and steam for 10 to 15 minutes.