POORI (The Fried, Puffed Whole Wheat Bread), Awards & a Tag

POORI (The Fried, Puffed Whole Wheat Bread)

A puri or poori or boori is a South Asian unleavened bread prepared in many of the countries in South Asia including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is consumed for breakfast, or as a snack or light meal. Puri is also the Georgian name for bread.

Puri is most commonly served at breakfast. It is also served at special or ceremonial functions; they sometimes are part of ceremonial rituals along with other vegetarian food offered in prayer as prasadam.

Puri can be made with Whole wheat flour (Atta) or with all purpose flour (Maida). Puri is often served with potato masala, chana masala, korma, and goes well with most North Indian gravies. In some Indian states it is served with halwa and in Maharashtra it is relished with Aamras.

In the north east of India, Puri is served with a special mixed vegetable which is prepared during puja and its also eaten with mistanno, a special kind of dessert prepared with rice, milk, sugar.

A variant of the puri is the bhatura which is three times a puri and thus a single bhatura, served with chole (spicy chick peas), often constitutes a full meal.

Another variant of the puri popular in the eastern states of West Bengal and Orissa is the Luchi.

(Some of the info courtesy:-Wikipedia)

Ingredients

Mix together in a bowl:

2 cups Indian whole wheat flour

1/2 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Method

Slowly add about 3/4 cup warm water, just enough to form a firm dough, and knead till smooth. Cover, let rest at least 1/2 hour, and knead again briefly. If resting more than 1 hour, punch and knead dough again before rolling out.

Divide into small balls about golf-ball size, and roll out into 6" rounds on an oiled board. Heat vegetable oil in a wok or saucepan. Add a little salt to the oil to keep it from smoking. Fry the puri one at a time, holding them under the oil on the first side until they puff. Turn and fry till light brown; drain. While frying, the bread puffs up. After they become golden-brown in color, they are removed and served hot along with some accompaniment.

Serve as soon as possible as Puris are not so good later.

For spicy puris:

When making the dough, add the below mentioned dry ingredients:

Turmeric – a pinch

Red chilly powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Salt as per taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

Mix the dough well then add water and mix and follow as above.

AWARDS & A TAG

Coming to the awards, I received the Kreative Blogger Award from Priti.

Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful awards with me I truly appreciate this.

The

Kreativ Blogger awards have some rules …

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog

.

3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated

So 7 things about myself.. Let's see if you find this interesting...

• I am a very social person

• I love blogging and in the panel to write for a few other blogs as well.

• I am a real estate agent which was not my field of study and I was featured on TV in Singapore

• I love singing and have won many accolades in the past.

• I love to cook and especially find street food extremely tempting.

• Iam a vegetarian and always find alternative recipes that vegetarians can enjoy.

• Iam a very straightforward and emotional person and expect people to be the

same with me.

And here are some of the tags I received:

•What is your current obsession?

Real estate & blogging

•What are you wearing today?

Iam at home and wearing my well worn and comfortable cotton gown

•What’s for dinner?

Pav bhaji

•What’s the last thing you bought?

Pants

•What are you listening to right now?

Teri Ore from Singh is King

•What do you think about the person who tagged you?

I think she is very talented

•If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

Mumbai anytime - Amchi Mumbai is where my heart is

•What are your must-have pieces for summer?

I think 4 quarter cotton pants and soft, pastel colored Cotton kurtis, I love to wear pastel colored Lucknowi Suits, Iced Sugarcane with ginger and lemon (my favorite) gallons of cold water.

•If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

I think I would love to go to Venice

•Which language do you want to learn?

Mandarin, Telegu & Kannada

•What’s your favourite quote?

God helps those who help themselves

•Who do you want to meet right now?

God

•What is your favourite colour?

Blue

•What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own clo

set?

I think my latest wine color formal top which looks professional & slick.

•What is your dream job?

Cook and serve people with no expectation in return except for compliments

•What’s your favourite magazine?

Womans Era

•If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?

Buy a decent purse and wallet as both of what I have are worn out.

•What do you consider a fashion faux pas? (faux pas mean error in etiquette.. )

To wear bindi and jumkas with western outfits

•Who are your style icons?

I like Simi Garewal…she is class personified…..

•Describe your personal style.?

Classic & simply elegant

•What are you going to do after this?

Watch TV

•What are your favourite movies?

Jaane Bhi do yaaron, Khubsoorat, Jhooti, Golmal, Amol Palekar movies are my absolute favorite.

•What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?

Bodywash, Face Powder and Lipstick

•What inspires you?

Compliments, gratitude and encouraging words.

•Give us three styling tips that always work for you:

Hairstyle that you are comfortable in, Eyeliner to define your eyes and lipstick to define your lips. As Priti said I would like to say the same, Know what's suits you, never overdo your makeup, try to keep it simple and comfortable.

•What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?

Go Shopping

•Coffee or tea?

Tea

•What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?

Hug my little ones. Listen to some soothing music or try to catch up on an old comedy movie

•What is the meaning of your name?

Sukanya means “A good girl”

•Which other blogs you love visiting?

There are millions of blogs and every blog is creative

•Favorite Dessert/Sweet?

Gulab jamun and Gajar ka halwa

•What's the best feeling?

To love and be loved in return

•Who do you love most and why ?

I love my kids the most, because they are the most perfect beings in the world to me

Here is my new question: Reason(s) for you to blog?

I love blogging

Respond and rework – answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. Then tag eight or ten other people.

So now it's time to award & tag others and I would like to share all the awards and tag with. Sireesha , Sowmya , LG, Purva , Priyanka, Usha, Asha, Sanghi and Priyaraj

Please accept the awards and ignore the tag if you have done before.

Sireesha of mom’s recipes has passed me the Scrumptious Blog Award. Thank you Sireesha!!!

It is the Scrumptious Blog Award -a blog award given to sites who:

Inspire you

Encourage You

May give Fabulous information

A great read

Has Scrumptious recipes

Any other reasons you can think of that make them Scrumptious!

The rules are:

Put the logo on your blog or post.

Nominate at least 7 blogs

Let them know that they have received this Scrumptious award by commenting on their blog.

Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

Sireesha also passed me the Fabulous Blog award

I would like to pass this award to my following blogger friends:

Sowmya, LG , Purva , Priyanka, Usha ,

Sanghi

and Priyaraj

I would like to send Puris to the Festive food event organized by Purva & Priti, as Puris are cooked during most festivals in many parts of India

I would like to send this recipe to Raks "Cooking for Guests" Event as I make these when guests come over and serve it with aaamras, potato masaala or chole.

I would also like to send Puris to EC’s WYF: Festive treat as Puri is a festive treat.

KAARA VADAI and Awards

KAARA VADAI

This was my grandma’s signature dish, she used to dish out the best Kaara vadais in the world. She was always full of life, she loved it when people visited her and would whirr around the kitchen dishing up some wonderful things. Kaara vadai was one such evening snack. It never happens that we make kaara vadai and don’t think of my grandma. This post is an ode to my grandma who is no more in this world but forever in our hearts and her recipes are a sheer gastronomic indulgence. I wish I had the energy she had, the bounce in her steps, the never-say-never attitude, the zeal for cooking no matter how many people came home. Her initiative and enthusiasm to dish out her famous recipes for all and sundry who visited us, be it the relatives or friends was matchless. I would love to share this recipe keeping in lieu the spirit of sharing that she passed on to us. Enjoy this recipe, make a sizeable number of kaara vadai, you can’t stop with one and you will keep coming back for more of the crispy, karari and lip smackingly delicious bite sized kara vadais. If its leftover, u can put it in sambhar and tastes excellent like sambhar vadai or you can even put it in yogurt (dahi) and trust me it tastes better than Medhu vada or the lentil vadas(bhalle) put in Dahi(Yogurt). Kaara vadais go well with tea. It’s a tea time snack.

Ingredients

Raw rice - 1 cup

Udad Split Black Gram Dal - ½ cup

Chana dal (Bengal Gram) – ¼ cup

Chana dal (Bengal Gram) – 1 tbsp soaked

Green chillies – 7-8

Asafetida – ½ tsp

Salt as per taste

Curry leaves

Oil to fry

Method

Wash well and soak 1 cup raw rice and 1/3 cup urad dhal and ¼ cup chana dal for 2 hrs. Also soak separately 1 tablespoon soaked chana dal.

Drain and grind all the dals along with the green chillies in a wet grinder or mixer except the soaked 1 tbsp chana dal.

Grind into a coarse paste adding salt, asafetida and sufficient water. The batter shouldn’t be very thin or thick just like normal vada batter, it should be to dropping consistency

Now tear some curry leaves and add to the vada batter, also add in the soaked 1 tbsp chana dal and mix well.

Heat oil in a frying pan and when the oil is hot, put small balls of the batter, shouldn’t be too even(very round) while dropping, when dropped unevenly it will be more crispy. Fry the vadas till golden and crisp, remove and drain on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with coconut chutney or green chutney.

Priti of Indian Khana has showered me with awards.

Thanks Priti, it really boosts me, I would like to share it with some of my blogger friends.

I am passing this to;

Sanghi of Sanghi's Tasty Bites

Deepa of Simple Home cooking

Purva of Purva's Dawat

Alka's Sindhi Rasoi

Priyanka of Asankhana

Ramki of One page cook books

PJ’s

Usha’s

and Sowmya

RAVA KESARI (SOJJI) (CREAM OF WHEAT INDIAN DESSERT)

RAVA KESARI (SOJJI) (CREAM OF WHEAT INDIAN DESSERT)

Sojji is a simple, easy to make and very enjoyable sweet. Easy to make is an under statement, as if the proportion of the ingredients is not correct the Kesari will come out either too pasty or too dry. If the flame is too strong the sojji wont come out well. So, here’s the recipe for a perfect kesari (sojji)if followed exactly as it is here. I had earlier blogged in the recipe of Strawberry kesari /sheera in my blog (Click on the link to check it out.)
Here I would like to mention the Sheera made by the Maharashtrian Brahmins for Prasad for the Satyanarayan Pooja ceremony. It will always be so perfect wherever you go, whichever Satyanarayana Pooja you go to, not so pasty, separate and rich and exotic with loads of ghee. When we had the Satyanarayana pooja at home, I asked the Brahmin who made it how we does and he said that we take 1 ¼ cup of Semolina, ghee and sugar. I did want to try it but when it came to pouring the ghee I didn’t have the heart to pour so much, thinking of the calories and how many kilometers I will have to walk to burn it. So I sacrificed on the ghee and the result was a disaster.

Since my daughter is a huge Sojji / Kesari / Sheera fan, I searched and searched for the perfect recipe that would make my daughter compliment me and tell me that I make the best Kesari. She always compliments my downstairs neighbor’s Kesari and come what may she says I can’t match up to it. I asked Anita(my downstairs neighbor) for the recipe, even got it done from her, she makes fantastic Kesari, but, the same problem, oodles of ghee (Fat!!!! Calories!!! Weight!!!!) and my knees would turn to jelly. Every person I asked said, “Kesari wouldn’t be Kesari if there is no ghee”. But this recipe doesn’t have as much ghee and still tastes good. Here is a no-fail recipe, if followed properly as per the measurements given here and the procedure followed here. Make this Kesari and enjoy the compliments.

Ingredients
Cream of wheat (rava/ semolina) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 - 1.5 cups

Clarified Butter (Ghee) - 3-4 tbsp
Cardamoms (de-skinned and crushed) - 3-4

Golden Raisins (kismis) - 8-10
Orange food color (kesari) -1tsp
Method:
Add 1 tbsp ghee in a wok with a thick bottom, when its hot add the raisins and de-skinned and crushed cardamoms, once the raisins become plump, Add the semolina and roast in the ghee along with the raisins and cardamom till the rava gets a faint pink color. Keep aside. Now in the same wok, add 3 cups of water, add the color and let it boil. When it comes to boiling point, add the semolina slowly, constantly stirring, and mix well. Allow the semolina to be cooked at medium heat. The trick is that the semolina has to cook well. Keep covered and cook for a while. When it is fully cooked, add the sugar and stir well. The sugar makes it watery, so stir well. When the sugar is fully dissolved, add the remaining ghee. Keep stirring until the semolina starts leaving the sides of the pan. Your Kesari/Sheera/Sojji is ready. Check the close up snap of the Kesari, it shows how moist and well cooked it is. Serve warm, dunk in with a spoon and enjoy it.

I would like to send my Aparna’s FIC Orange Event which was initially started by Sunshinemom

I would also like to send this toAlka's Sindhi Rasoi and since it is Valentines Day today and this is a Valentine event, this goes out to my 5 year old who loves this dish very much.

Sojji also goes to Priyanka of Asankhana who is hosting the event Cooking with luv for luv

Iam also sending this lovely dessert to Recipes for the rest of us-Dessert event started by Ramki of One page cook books and hosted by Varsha of Willo the Wisp

Priti has bestowed upon me the Lemonade Award, Thank you Priti for the lovely award.

I would also like to send this to PJ’s Tasty Bites for Toddlers event

ALOO GOBI AND AWARDS

ALOO GOBI

I was tired of heavy and complicated recipes so decided to churn out this simple recipe with ingredients easily available in any Indian kitchen. Aloo Gobi is a comfort food and a sure hit in my house. It is Yo’s favorite. Here is a fast to cook and good to eat recipe.

Ingredients

Cauliflower – ½ kilo

Potatoes -1

Onion – 1
Grated Ginger/Gingerpaste - 1 tsp

Tomatoes – 1

Cumin seeds – 2 tsps

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Red chilly powder – 1 tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Salt as per taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

Freshly chopped coriander for garnish (optional)

Method

Peel the florets of the cauliflower and keep the florets in some warm water with some salt and turmeric for about half an hour. Meanwhile, peel and chop the potatoes into cubes/wedges. Chop the onions and tomatoes as well. Keep aside. Now the drain the water off the cauliflower florets and rinse well. In a wok, Add one tbsp oil, add the cumin seeds, when the cumin seeds start to fry. Add the onions, when the onions become transparent, add in the tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are soft, then add the potato wedges, Cook for 5-7 minutes. After which add the cauliflower florets and mix well, now add the chilly powder, turmeric powder, asafetida and salt as per taste. Mix everything well, cover with a lid and cook on a low flame. After every 5 minutes give it a stir, you will see that the vegetables have become moist. Always allow it to cook in its own juices. If you see that there is no water, add a bit and cook covered on a low flame. After about 10 minutes you will notice that the potatoes are cooked, check if cooked with a spoon, if not wait until the potatoes are cooked. Cauliflower usually cooks fast. Once it is done, you can garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with chappatis or u can have it with dal and rice. Tastes great.

Tips

• Do not add water to  the vegetables as the potatoes will get mashed and your vegetable will get soggy.
• Instead of red chilly powder, you can add ginger-green chilly paste
• You can add other spices like coriander powder, cumin powder, anardana powder, amchur powder, garam masala in any combinations of your choice. I didn't add in this because i wanted to share a simple and easy recipe with minimum ingredients.
• You can avoid onions in this recipe if you do not like the flavor of onions. 
• You can avoid ginger in this recipe 

AWARDS TIME

Purva and LG have passed me the Great Buddy Award

and 360 degree Foodie Award

I would love to thank both of them for these awards.

LG has also showered upon me a few awards,

A Perfect Blend Of Friendship Award

Iam a Chocoholic award

Kreativ Blogger Award

Hard Working Food Blogger Award

Inspiration Award

Thanks Lakshmi for these lovely awards. It really makes your day.

Butterfly Award for the coolest blog

Since I was busy with the festive season I was unable to blog much. My dear blogger friend Sowmya and LG think my blog is the coolest blog that they know and have passed me the “Butterfly Award” Thanks for passing me this lovely award and boosting my spirits and encouraging me to keep blogging.

The rules of the award are:-
Put the logo on your blog.
Add a link to the person who awarded you.
Nominate 10 other blogs.
Add links to those blogs on yours, and leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I would like to nominate the following blogs-

Priti, Purva, Usha, Sushma

Sukanya , Vidhya , Adlak’s tiny world , Sireesha , Shama Nagarajan and Sagari

DUM ALOO & AN AWARD

I am coming towards the end of the NaBloPoMo challenge. I am already in a celebration mood.

I would like to post this recipe for the NaBloPoMo theme of the month “HOT”. There were many “HOT” recipes that I posted in August but this is definitely an ode to the theme.

Dum Aloo is perhaps one of the most exotic and liked potato gravy dish in India. This dish has its roots in the North of India. Its "Fast to Cook and Good to Eat”

DUM ALOO

Ingredients

Small potatoes – 15 -20

Medium sized onions – 2

Tomatoes – 2-3

Ginger - A small piece

Green chilies - 2

Cardamom pods - 1-2

Cloves – 1-2

Cinnamon sticks – 1-2

Yoghurt - 1/2 cup

Garam masala powder - 2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – 2 tsp

Red chili powder -1 tsp

Salt to taste

Freshly chopped coriander leaves

Oil for deep frying the potatoes

Method

Boil the potatoes. Peel them and prick the potatoes with a fork. Fry the potatoes in hot oil till they turn slightly brown. Drain and set aside.

For the Dry Masala

Powder the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks. Add in the Garam masala, Coriander powder, Cumin powder, chilly powder and salt and blend it all once in the dry mill of your blender.

For the Wet Masala

Grind Onion, tomatoes, Ginger, chillies into a fine paste. Add in the dry powders and blend once.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add in the cumin seeds and the dry and wet masala mixed paste and fry till the oil separates. Now add in the fried potatoes and some water and cook on a low flame covered with a lid. Keep opening the lid every 5 mins and give it a good stir without breaking the potatoes. This is to ensure that the masala coats and enters the potatoes well.

In the blender just blend ½ cup of yogurt once, so that it doesn’t have any lumps. Pour this inside the potato gravy and mix well. Add enough water to cover the potatoes and Cook on dum(steam) for another 10 mins. Simmer till the gravy is thick for about 10 minutes. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with Chapathi/Poori/Nan or Rice.

Sowmya of Creative Saga and LG of Taste of Mysore think that I have done a Good job with my blog and have honored me with the Good Job Award.

Thanks Sowmya and LG for encouraging me with this award.

I would like to pass this award to Purva and Priti, I sincerely feel they are doing a good job hosting the Festive events.